“Hard work has made everything easy!
That is my secret!”
Nadia Comaneci
On July 10, 2025, the President of Romania signed the decree promulgating the Law establishing 2026 as the “Year of Nadia Comăneci,” marking the 50th anniversary of the legendary performances achieved by the Romanian gymnast at the 21st edition of the Summer Olympic Games, held in Montreal between July 17 and August 1, 1976.
To honor the great champion of world gymnastics and celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first perfect 10 in gymnastics, Romfilatelia and Romanian Post dedicate to Nadia Comăneci the postage stamp issue 2026 – The Year of Nadia Comăneci.
The issue, comprising two postage stamps (with face values of Lei 9 lei and Lei 16), a perforated souvenir sheet (featuring the stamp with a face value of Lei 27), an imperforated souvenir sheet (featuring the stamp with a face value of Lei 32), a First Day Cover, and a philatelic folder containing special products in limited run printing, will be launched on Friday, May 29 this year, both in Bucharest and during the 2026 Boston 2026 World Stamp Show, where Romania is represented by Romfilatelia and Romanian Post.
Nadia Comăneci’s achievements revolutionized world gymnastics, and thus she entered history, being the best Romanian athlete of all time who was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1993.
On July 18, 1976, a 14-year-old gymnast from Romania surprised the sports world with a performance that was hard to match: an “absolute” 10 at the Summer Olympics in Montreal. The electronic display was not programmed to show a 10, because there were only three spaces for displaying scores, so the screen showed a score of 1.00. Nadia Comăneci achieved the perfect score at this edition of the Olympic Games, winning three gold medals in the all-around, beam and parallel bars, a silver medal in the team event and a bronze medal in the floor exercise.
“No one knows when exactly history will be made. There are no specialized textbooks in the field that will tell you how to deal with the moment. Since I had competed last in the parallel bars, I immediately started warming up for the beam. While I was warming up for the beam, the score was displayed on the electronic board. A 1.00. I continued warming up without caring about what had happened, focused on the next exercise. Béla came up to me and I asked him: Professor, is it really a ten? His smile widened from ear to ear and he said yes,” Nadia recalls nostalgically.
The press at the time headlined:
A Star is Born! (Newsweek, August 2, 1976)
She’s perfect! (Time, August 2, 1976)
She stole the show! (Sports Illustrated, August 2, 1976)
Since then, the gymnast from Oneşti has gone down in history as the first athlete with a perfect exercise. If the beam, also called the “bridge of sighs”, is an apparatus that most gymnasts “run away from”, for Nadia, in Montreal, it meant only another step towards the Olympic title and a new perfect score. Two of the elements still bear her names today: “Comăneci Descent” and “Comăneci Jump”.
Nadia Comăneci was born on November 12, 1961 in Oneşti, Bacău County. Nadia made her national debut in 1970, as a member of her city team. That same year, she began training with Béla Károlyi and his wife, Márta Károlyi. At the age of 13, Nadia Comăneci’s first major achievement was winning three gold medals and one silver medal at the 1975 European Championships in Skien, Norway.
Until 1981, when she retired from competitive activity, Nadia Comăneci won 5 gold medals, 3 silver medals and one bronze medal at the 1976 Olympic Games and the 1980 Olympic Games, and another 11 gold medals, 4 silver medals and one bronze medal at world and European competitions.
On the two stamps and the souvenir sheets of the issue, which suggestively illustrate moments from the balance beam and floor exercises during the Olympic competition of July 18, 1976, the contest number 073 on the gymnast’s equipment, the score “1” on the scoreboard, and the anniversary number “50” are rendered in UV-visible ink.
On the “First Day” cover are depicted the Memorial Nadia Comăneci, Montreal Monument, located near the gymnastics hall in Onești, where Nadia Comăneci trained as an athlete, the logo of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee (COSR), and the anniversary logo. We also mention that the Municipality of Onești was awarded the title of “European City of Sport 2026.”
Respect, admiration, gratitude for the star of women’s world gymnastics!
Romfilatelia thanks Nadia Comăneci (for the images from her personal archive), the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, Nadia Comăneci Foundation, and the Municipal Sports Club Onești for their collaboration in the development of this postage stamp issue.
