Nadia Comaneci
You can't jump from little things to big things. It just takes time and patience.Collection: Patience
I believe that you should gravitate to people who are doing productive and positive things with their lives.Collection: Positive
Enjoy the journey and try to get better every day. And don't lose the passion and the love for what you do.Collection: Love
Of course I used to smile and laugh in 1976, but not when I was competing. Please show me somebody who laughs when they are concentrating; I always smiled.Collection: Smile
I don't run away from a challenge because I am afraid. Instead, I run toward it because the only way to escape fear is to trample it beneath your feet.Collection: Fear
We are not coaching on a daily basis because we often travel with our charity and commercial interests.Collection: Travel
My marriage to my husband, Bart Conner in 1996 is my proudest personal moment.Collection: Marriage
You should also appreciate the goodness around you, and surround yourself with positive people.Collection: Positive
Hard work has made it easy. That is my secret. That is why I win.
Life is not easy for anyone. You have to have ups and downs. You can make mistakes. You learn and try not to make them again. That's pretty much my principle.
I come from a wonderful country with wonderful people.
I wanted to have a free life.
To me, family is what is important. If you don't have it, nothing is going to matter.
I made the cover of 'Sports Illustrated,' 'Newsweek' and 'Time' all in one week, and I didn't even know what that meant.
I like seeing advanced acrobatics, but I also like to see more than tumbling. It's important to combine the artistry of gymnastics with the tough skills. It's called artistic gymnastics. We should stand by the name.
It was good to be a kid because I did not realise all the things that came with the success. Going to the Games, I was asked what I expected to do.
I know my life story sounds too extraordinary to be true.
Every generation comes with a unique athlete, I don't think anybody wants to be the next Nadia; they want to be themselves.
People always accused me of not smiling like my rival Olga Korbut, but that was just my personality. When you're balancing on a nine-inch beam, you have to concentrate. But if you look back at the footage, I was always smiling and waving at the crowd after my performances.
I would love to be in 'Dancing With the Stars.'
I used to tell people if they looked at a map, it was right in the middle of the United States. But now everybody knows Oklahoma because of the Thunder and their success. I don't know if I'll get 'Why?' anymore.
It's very hard to get to the top. It's hardest to stay at the top.
Scoring the first 10 in history was a big deal, but the fact that even an electronic scoreboard could not figure out how to put out a score, it made the story more historic.
One of the most difficult times in my life was when I escaped from Romania in November of 1989.
I like to tell young people to work hard for your goals and live in the moment.
My parents were very loving, but disciplinarians.
I have had a few turning points, the first day I entered a gymnastics school at age 6.
Of course, most people remember that I received the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics competition.
I ended up in the US for a month or so, before moving to Montreal with some Romanian friends.
I worked hard in gymnastics since the time I was six years old until I retired at 23 years of age.
Of course, I grew up in Communist Romania, but I am happy to say that now our country is democratic, and prospering, since the revolution in 1989.
As an Olympic champion gymnast, I have always stayed involved in my sport.
I hoped to win a medal and hoped it would be gold. I knew I was good but didn't know I would be the one to score something that had never been done before.
Everything I do today is because of what I did when I was 14.
It's like someone important is missing from a party because you can't imagine an Olympic gymnastics competition without Romania.
We developed a system in Romania that was very successfully continued for a number of years, but I don't know if it was because of some conflict in the organisation or whether there was government interference... but somehow, they have forgotten the importance of raising gymnasts to be ready for every Olympics.
Uchimura is the greatest of all time.
I was a perfectionist in gymnastics.
I always say, 'When the Olympics are happening, you shouldn't be in any other place in the planet - you should be here.'
Other kids had more talent, but I was the most focused.
I remember everything from 1976. I remember I was 14, and I remember my routines.
I remember before the Olympics, I was asked, 'What do you think you're going to do in the Olympics?' and I said, 'I'm hoping I'm going to win a medal, and, if possible, it's going to be a gold one.'
At 14, you think you compete, you retire and you get a job. I didn't think gymnastics was a career that was going to change my life.
I thought I was going to retire at 20, and I was going to be a surgeon.
I didn't know I wanted to be a gymnast; I was just introduced to the gym. I loved the place because it looked like a hi-tech playground with mats and a lot of things I can hang from.
At some particular time, when I was 14 years old, I've done something that people didn't expect.
I think that when you are on a four-inch balance beam, you don't care about laughing or smiling or waving to the crowd because you're going to be down in a second.
People ask me what the definition of perfection, I said it's none: there is no definition of perfection.
I had more pressure when I competed in Moscow. I had no pressure in Montreal because I only went to do my routines and hoping I didn't mess it up when I was on the bar. When I came back, 10,000 people were at the airport and I thought, 'Why?' because, in my mind, I hadn't done anything different from what I used to do in my gym.
People think you have pressure when you are young. It's the other way round, actually.