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Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Nadia's perfect 10 ..... and the ' zero ' by Aussie Maddison Keeney !!!

At the age of 14, Comăneci was the most talked star of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. During her routine on the uneven bars, she was awarded a perfect ten.  It was the first time in modern Olympic gymnastics history that the score had ever been awarded.  It is reported that Omega SA, the traditional Olympics scoreboard could not display it properly as the manufacturer was told that 4 digits was not necessary – hence Nadia's perfect marks were displayed as 1.00 instead. The crowd was at first confused, but soon understood and gave her a rousing ovation.  Over the course of the Olympics, Comăneci would earn six additional tens, en route to capturing the all-around, beam, and bars titles, and a bronze medal on the floor exercise.

Nadia Elena Comăneciis a Romanian former gymnast, winner of three Olympic gold medals at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and the first female gymnast to be awarded aperfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She also won two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.  If 10    [ at that time ] is perfect, what could be the worst …… ? can there ever be a zero ??  The FINA World Championships or World Aquatics Championships are the World Championships is now on at Russia – the competitions are  for Aquatics sports: Swimming, Diving, High Diving, Open Water Swimming, Synchronized Swimming and Water Polo. The event was first held in 1973 and is now held every two years.

Australian Maddison Keeney's disastrous dive at the World Titles earned her a ZERO from the judges (but a perfect 10 points on the internet!).  MailOnline reports that the Australian diver Maddison Keeney bombed out of the World Aquatics Championships in Russia with an embarrassing performance in the final round.The young gun's nerves appeared to have got the better of her and following the disastrous dive she slipped from fourth place to twelfth.As the manoeuvre carried a high degree of difficulty at 3.2, if she had nailed it the 19-year-old may have landed herself on the podium.

The 19-year-old looked downcast after her dive, which she failed to score any points.  The Kiwi-born baulked and all but fell off the platform, failing to register a score and relegating her to last in the 12-strong quality field (226.05). Footage from the event showed the 19-year-old bouncing on the platform before appearing to lose her balance.She was propelled from the front of the diving board and completed a move that one might see at their local pool.

It was almost a carbon copy of Keeney's 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games effort where too she bombed.  Keeney looked primed for 1m gold in Scotland, only to baulk on the platform before her second-last dive, costing her a two point deduction and relegating her to silver.Following her disaster dive this week, Keeney's teammate and Commonwealth 3m champion Esther Qin (280.50 points) claimed an impressive fifth placing in the women's one-metre platform final at Kazan.Certainly something embarrassing and distraught for the individual.

In gymnastics, the maximum possible score was a perfect 10 until the rules were changed in 2006 by the International Gymnastics Federation.  Besides, Romanian Nadia Comăneci Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and Daniela Silivaș in 1988 too have got the perfect 10. Currently, there are different top scores for various events based upon difficulty ratings and no consistent perfect score.

Nadia hails from Romania, where she was born in 1961.She began gymnastics at nursery school, and by age 6 she was chosen to attend a specialist gymnastics school.  She retired from competitive gymnastics after the 1984 Olympics.  After a series of competition and exhibition trips to the United States, She was forbidden to leave the country for any reason other than for gymnastics.In 1989 she defected from Romania to the United States, shortly before the revolution. She later married former American Gymnast Bart Conner, and returned to Romania in 1996 after the fall of communism. Their wedding was broadcast live on Romanian television.She now has dual American and Romanian citizenship.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

31st July 2015.

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