lair. Flexibility. Technical Skill. Grace. Timing.After Bart Conner and Nadia Comaneci bothwon gold medals at the 1976

American Cup for displaying all of the above qualities in judge-awing

abundance, theymet forthe firsttime . For apublicity shot, he, 18, kissed her,

14, then powerfully vaulted his own way as she gracefully leapt hers . Twenty

years andmany gold medals later, he, 38, kissed her, 34, once again at the end

oftheirfairy-tale weddingin Bucharest, Romania, and the beginning oftheir

married life in Norman, America .

These two gymnastics champions-in both senses ofthat word-are still

scoring perfect 10s in all the areas listed above, albeit with a few new twists .

26 SOONERMAGAZINE

Her white dress by renowned Japanese designer Yumi Katsura glowed with10,000 hand-beaded pearls and flowed with a 23-foottrainthat required six buddingRomanian gymnasts to carry it. His impeccable white tie and tails set offhis blondegood looks, makingthe perfect foil forher darkbeauty . They wore bejeweled coronetsofgold and stepped from the church to be greeted bythousands ofadoring, cheeringsubjects .

This royal couple, listed not inBurke's Peerage butin the record books ofcountlessgymnastics events, were the hero and heroine of a national event . Their three-dayextravaganza ofa weddingincluded a civil ceremony in the elegant Military Center'sMarble Hall, a Romanian Christian Orthodox ceremony at Bucharest's CasinChurch, parties and dinners too numerous to list, the complete attention ofan entireEastern European country and-gasp-even favorable coverage by the Americantabloid press .

A glittering international wedding joins Sooner gymnastic

The GoldenBY KATHRYN JENSON WHITE

The world's most famous gym-nastics couple, Nadia Comaneciand Bart Conner, leave thesumptuous baroque hall of theRomanian Army's MilitaryCenter in Bucharest followingthe first of their two marriageceremonies .

treat Bart Conner and Olympic immortal Nadia Comaneci.

Couple1996 SUMMER

27

Nadia, famous enough around theworld to be known by just that onename, returned to her homeland inApril 1996 for only the second timesince her much-publicized defectionin 1989 . She came as the well-tonedprincess bride-to-be on the well-muscled arm ofher handsome prince .

For her, life was once again good .The first few years following Nadia'sarrival in the United States had beendifficult ones, years during which sheceased performing and found herselfwithout roots or connections .

"I had been living in Montreal for ayear and a halfwhen Bart asked me toperform with him," she says . "It wasvery hard to get back into shape . Ithought, `Why am I doing this?' Ihadn't done gymnastics for sixor sevenyears because it didn't make sense tocontinue . When you finished compet-

onships, with Bart winning the 1978NCAA all-around and later two Olym-pic gold medals . This duo was dy-namic .

Rediscovering the determinationand strength that had helped earn herthe first perfect 10 in an Olympicsgymnastics competition and to winfive Olympic golds, Nadia re-formedherselfwith Bart's help . Their profes-sional collaboration beganin 1991 andblossomed into a personal one . Heasked her to marry him in 1994 .

Bart and Nadia visited Bucharesttogether that same year, five years tothe day from her defection . They en-tered the country on that first tripwith some trepidation .

"I didn't know if the people wouldcongratulate me on having the cour-age to leave and make a life for myselfor say, `Oh, you left when it was the

ing, you retired . There was no place togo with it then . I did what I did andlearned what I learned, and then thesport ofgymnastics was over for me . Iplanned to go on with my life in otherways because I could never go backand be that me again . Then Bart andPaul came along."

Paul Ziert, former OU gymnasticscoach and Bart's manager, certainlyunderstood Nadia's attitude, but hewanted to change it . He and Bartwere working on the possibility of anextended professional life for gym-nasts, and they wanted Nadia to be apart of their plan . In 1977 and 1978,Bart and Paul had led the OU men'sgymnastics team to national champi-

28

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hardest time for us,'" she says . "Icouldn't believe it. The people gaveme so much credit . Forget about thegymnastics career ; they already knewabout that . Theyjust received us withunbelievable honor . There was a lot ofcrying and everything . Bart said wehad to get married in Bucharest ."

So, in April, they did just that .Their wedding was featured in everymagazine from Sports Illustrated toPeople . Former tennis great IlieNastase, then a candidate for mayorof Bucharest, attended, along withmost of Romania's political and cul-tural elite and 72 of Bart and Nadia'sAmerican family and friends . Actingas the couple's godfather and god-

mother in the religious ceremony (thisis, after all, a fairy tale of sorts) wereAdrian Nastase, executive presidentof the governing Social DemocracyParty and no relation to Ilie, and hiswife, Dana .

l~.~ibllit~rAlthough Bart and Nadia work out

daily and have a fairly demandingperformance schedule, the musclesthey use most today are those abovethe neck .

"As a former gymnast, my work is,essentially, me," Bart says . "Nadia'swork is Nadia . We perform, speak, dopromotions, make appearances andgive endorsements . That's how wemake our livings ."

Following this career path is cer-tainly no easier than training for

The marriage of their nationalheroine, Nadia Comaneci, toformer Sooner gymnastics starBart Conner was the biggest eventRomanians hadseen since the1989revolution. After acivilceremony,Bart and Nadia appeared on thebalcony of the Military Center togreet the waiting crowd. Thenewlyweds make their home inNorman, Oklahoma, U.S.A .

world-class competition in theirsport-and it may be even more diffi-cult . Bart and Nadia's electronic ap-pointment calendar almost blew a fuseas he scrolled through the couple'srecent travel history.

"The way we deal with this crazyschedule is to look only forward," hesays . "Someone said to me recently,`So, you guys were 'in Phoenix theother day,' and I said, `Oh, really? Wewere?' This year has been incrediblyintense because all the major Olympicsponsors-Coca-Cola, Xerox, Visa,John Hancock-are doing Olympic-related promotions .

"June 1, Nadia had a Swatch watchpromotion, so we both went to Chicago

and New York for that . Then we ranthe Olympic torch in Salt Lake . Wetaped the "Oprah" show, then went toBentonville, Arkansas, for a Wal-Martshareholders meeting . We flew toColumbus for Coke, to Washington,D.C ., and Boston for Swatch, to De-troit for Coke . Then Nadia headed toAtlanta for Danskin, and I went toEurope to be the commentator on agymnastics show for ABC's "WideWorld of Sports ." We both went toNew York again for Swatch, then toSan Diego for Sea World, then to Bos-ton for the Olympic Trials . We'reheaded back to Boston day after to-morrow to attend Eunice KennedyShriver's birthday party at theKennedy compound-I've been on theboard ofthe Special Olympics for about10 years-then to Detroit for Cokeand Pennsylvania for a York Com-pany picnic . Then it's to ESPN to do avoice-over for a television show and toRaleigh, North Carolina, to shoot aSpecial Olympics video .

"That takes us to the 12th of July .

We're home for four days, then we goto Atlanta on July 17 and stay untilthe Olympics end August 5 ."

Bart says that forhim, adjusting toall the corporate schmoozing and fuss-ing over the couple is fairly easy . ForNadia, it is a little tougher, given herdifferent background .

"Because she is from a socialistsystem in which everything was doneby the government, there are no cor-porate schmooze-fests," he explains ."Their system is very different, so itwas funny for Nadia at the beginning.We're hired, for example, to just gohave dinner and talk to people at acompany . It's a weird way to make aliving in some ways . At first, Nadiawould say, `Now what are we sup-posed to do?T 'Just talk to the people,'I would tell her . `Talk about what?'she would ask. `Whatever they wantto talk about,' I would answer."

Nadia explains : "Being on the roadwas new to me . I've just been doing it

a couple of years now .

This year'stight scheduling has been unbeliev-able, but I know what agreat opportu-nity it is for me to be in this situation .Now I'm gaining from what I did 20years ago as a child .

"A lot of people ask me if I realizedthen what a big impact my perfect 10shad . My answer is no . I was thinkingjust ofwhatI had to do . I didn'trealizethat I was unique ; a 14-year-old doesn'tthink about carving out a place inhistory . My world was a small one . Ididn't realize what the Olympicsmeant to the whole world."

She realizes it now, of course, andshe also realizes that what she andBart are doing together is not onlysound business for them as individu-als but also an important contributionto the futures of those gymnasts whowill come after them .

`ccrmc~-l CQ3lallConner, Comaneci and Ziert, who

anyway . A couple ofyears ago, Nadialanded, blew her knee out and had tohave reconstruction . We're trying topresent ourselves more artisticallynow . We bring in the young Roma-nians and Russians and let them dothe really hard stuff."

This "gymnastics capades" concepthas gotten bigger and bettereach yearsince 1992, with Nadia and Bart doingmusic- and effects-filled numbers like"Goin' to the Chapel" and songs from"Grease ." Huge audiences in sportsarenas are treated to entertainmentand technical virtuosity for the priceofone ticket . They eat it up . A tape ofone event shows Nadia and Bart cos-tumed beautifully and in a physicaldialogue, she on the beam and he onthe uneven bars . Thrusting them-selves through space in their individ-ual areas ofthe stage, they are alwaysmoving toward the inevitable finale :the moment when she leaps gracefullyinto his strong arms while the spot-light illuminates their love for eachother and their sport . The audience

now serves as theirmanager and busi-ness partner, are working on a plan toallow gymnasts to extend their in-volvement in their sport after theearly-life competitions are over .

"Performing is still the most inter-esting to us," Bart says . "It's what wereally do . We're trying to do for gym-nastics what people have done for fig-ure skating . We want it to becomeentertainment with lighting, cos-tumes, choreography and big produc-tion values .

"We're pioneers here, breakingground . We want to leave a legacy .Paul, the producer of the professionaltour we do, is the creative force behindit . He brings in dancers from L.A . andinvests in it . We don't just do anexhibition ; we do a show .

"Nadia and I have watered down alot ofour stuff so we aren't working atthe same level of difficulty we oncewere . We don't have the time to com-mit to the level oftraining that takes .At our ages, it wouldn't be smart,

roars its approval as the piece ends ."We hope to create some longevity

for gymnasts," he explains . "The prob-lem with our sport is you spend allthese years developing this ability,then there's nowhere to go with it .That, to me, is a crime . Writers studyto be writers and then can write aslong as someone hires them . Youstudy to be a gymnast, and there's noplace to work . The only option is tocoach, and, if you're very lucky, ownyour own gym. Those activities pro-vide fairly modest livings .

"Eighty years ago the lee Folliesstarted . Those skaters knewhow to doit . In the last few years, skating hasproduced some superstars who do verywell earningtheirlivings as skaters . Iwant that for gymnasts."

To show others that such a conceptis viable, as well as to perform them-selves, Bart and Nadia will leave inSeptember for a 48-city gymnasticstour in 11 countries . They will per-form in India, France, Brazil, Mexico,

1996 SUMMER

29

Switzerland, Germany, Spain,England and Canada . Theywill be on the road until De-cember .

Bart wants not only alonger mat life for gymnasts,but also a lot ofthings for a lotofother people . He and Nadiadevote a significant portion oftheirveryfulllivesto the needsofothers . He worries that thecouple's constant travel haskept the two of them from be-coming fully involved mem-bers of the Norman commu-nity but takes comfort in thepositive service his 1,000-stu-dent, 32-teacher gym-TheBart Conner GymnasticsAcademy-performs .

To ensure that gifted chil-dren who want to study gymnasticsbut may notbe ableto afford the train-ing costs have options, Bart andNadiahave teamed with Oklahoma City'sLou Kerr to sponsor an annual BartConnerGolfTournament, with formerOlympians like Dan Jansen and BruceJenner playing. Last year's event,sponsored by JohnHancockInsurance,earned more than $60,000 to be usedfor gymnastics scholarships for un-der-served children . Only one ofthosesix scholarships is beingused at Bart'sgym .

Long before the tournament cameto pass, Bart had created the non-profit Bart Conner Education Pro-grams . This organization had twoshort-term goals : to do good things foryoung Oklahoma gymnasts, such asbringing in talented gymnasticscoaches from other places, and to pro-vide scholarships . The tournament,sponsored this year by Coca-Cola andplanned for September 30 at Oak TreeGolf Course, helps provide the fundsnecessary in realizing both goals .

The long-term goal ofthe organiza-tion is to build the International Gym-nastics Hall of Fame in OklahomaCity. The former publisher of Inter-national Gymnast magazine, whichZiert purchased and moved toNorman from California last year,was also the owner of the largestcollection ofgymnastics archives andmemorabilia in the world, Bart says .That collection is coming to Okla-homa in September as the core of the

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A

The glitteringRomanian Christian Orthodoxweddingceremony took on fairy-tale proportions as OlympiansBart Conner and Nadia Comaneci repeat their vows .Flanking the couple are Adrian Nastase, left, head ofthe ruling Social Democracy Party, who acted as bestman and Orthodox `godfather" for the marriage, andhis wife, Dana, right.

Hall of Fame collection, to be housedtemporarily in donated space down-town . As soon as money for a perma-nent building is available, OklahomaCity will be the heart ofgymnastics inthe United States .

Bart and Nadia also have dailyduties as part of the responsibilitiesthat come with fame and being rolemodels . Bart has a large cardboardbox half full of fan letters to be an-swered .

"This is the pile I have to do," hesays, reaching down to grab a doublehandful and letting it sift back to thelarger heap slowly . "Nadia is waybetter than I am . We both do it allourselves, which is why I am so farbehind . Nadia isjust so diligent . She'salways getting letters from people say-ing, `Thank you for sending me theautographed photograph . I neverheard from Bart .' One thing I'm reallyconscientious about is requests forcharity auction items . We sign hatsand T-shirts and send out three orfour items each day."

Nadia adds, "You know, I think theword got out about you because now Iget more letters than you do."

"The more you answer, the moreyou get . I guarantee that," Bart tellsher .

"I think they do know," she sayswith a laugh. "I picked up a bunchthree hours ago, then, when I cameback to talk for the magazine I findanother big bunch. Are they makingspecial deliveries?"

1-jmn-Deliveries by mail are not

the only sort in which Bartand Nadia are interested .

"We're going to perform foranother yearor two ; then we'llbe all shot and have to stay athome more . I'm 38, and I'mnot sure how much longer Ican do this," he says with agrin . "Then, we're going towant to have kids .

"Essentially, our work isaway from here now . This isour base, but we don't makeour living doing any of this .Eventually, we'll grow thisbusiness enough to make ourliving here, though."

To house the growing num-ber and size ofits variousgym-nastics-related endeavors,Paul Ziert and Associates has

just completed next to the gym a largebuilding containing offices, the maga-zine production studio and a ware-house, from which a newly formed T-shirt business will operate .

Bart looks around at what his ath-letic skill has earned him with satis-faction and pride . That look turns tolove as his eyes light on Nadia .

"I had been doing this for a longtime, and then Nadia came into mylife five years ago," he says . "Ourworlds ran together very nicely . It's adifferent life, and not one for every-body . Sometimes it's great, and some-times it's awful . We're lucky becausewe can be together most of the time .Most of our work is together . Part ofthe stress of travel is leaving peopleyou love behind . With the two of ustogether, we don't have to deal withthat."

The prince and princess ofgymnas-tics do seem to be living a fairy tale .Just to keep things in perspectivethough, they tell the storyofthe writerfrom People magazine who came toNorman to do a follow-up on the wed-ding.

"The reporter asked us what wedid," Bart says . "I said, `We comehome, we wash our clothes, we packand we go again .' She said that wasthe picture she wanted, so she tooka shot of us folding clothes in ourlaundry room . That's the reality ofit ."

That's the fairy story of it . That'sthe glory ofit . That's a perfect 10 .