Comaneci hopes artistic gymnastics worlds change lives, like Montreal did for her
MONTREAL — Nadia Comaneci, the queen of the 1976 Olympic Games, wants Montrealers to live and breathe gymnastics for an entire week.
Forty-one years after becoming the darling of the Games, Comaneci is back in the city that changed her life for the 2017 world artistic gymnastics championships, which begin Monday.
The weeklong event at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium will feature 400 athletes — 155 women and 245 men — from 71 different nations.
“This week people will talk only of gymnastics,” said Comaneci, the event’s spokesperson, at the opening press conference on Sunday. “I’m sure there are other things happening but the important thing will be gymnastics.