G heard the admiration of the whole planet. Despite this,
The question raised by his presence in the neighboring country was logical. Without intending to, Com?neci became a propaganda icon of Nicolae Ceau?escu’s regime because, although he lived in a country under dictatorship, from the outside it could seem that the athlete’s life was almost like that of a queen Surely his compatriots thought the same. Sport was one of the few areas in which Cold War Romania stood out, and the regime and the system pushed the athletes to the maximum to be the envy and show that great achievements could be achieved in the country. Romanian historian Stejarel Olaru delves into the archives of the Securitate, the political police of communist Romania, to explain what life was like for the gymnast there and how the concept of repression was redefined at the time. His research is now available in Spanish in the form of a book: Nadia Com?neci y la policía secreta (Oberon).
“Not all Romanian citizens had a file open. A person could be monitored for several reasons: because he was politically, economically or culturally dissatisfied with the regime; because he considered leaving the country illegally – the borders were closed and it was very difficult to obtain a passport –; or because they were personalities in some field. In Nadia’s case, it was sport”, explains Olaru to La Vanguardia, who admits that she did not imagine that the surveillance would be so exhaustive. “They started following him when he was 13 years old. The police were not only interested in Nadia, but also in her family and surroundings. Nicknames were always used and hers was Corina. The people who provided information were also closely studied to verify that they were honest and that they collaborated properly with the Securitate”.
If detailed reports were obtained it was, in part, because microphones were installed in the houses where the athlete lived. The scouts allowed not only to follow their day-to-day life, but also the growing conflicts with their coaches, Béla and Marta Károlyi, who often resorted to psychological pressure and physical punishment, “and even forced the girls to compete injured “. Hunger was also the order of the day. “Some gymnasts ended up drinking toilet water or eating toothpaste. These are details that impact. Of course, they were survivors and ended up being very resolute, since when they got a piece of bread they hid it in unsuspecting places to eat it later at night”. The Securitate, which was aware of what was happening, “did not intervene.” He could have looked into it, but he wasn’t interested in a scandal. It was a delicate matter and no measure could be taken without the consent of the Communist Party, which was not much for work as long as the results were good.”
Although the day-to-day life of the gymnasts was not hopeful, it must be said that “Nadia was one of those who suffered the least since she became the youngest person to receive the highest decoration of the communist state. This made his coach very jealous, but at the same time complicated things for him. It was not so easy to justify beating a heroine of the homeland, but he could, for example, leave her without food for three days with the excuse that she was the right weight. It came to weigh 30 kilos. If a doctor found out and made trouble, he was fired.”
These situations made Nadia consider leaving gymnastics, despite the fact that she had won international admiration and was at her best. The Ceau?escu couple did not leave her and personally saw to it that the child prodigy continued to win medals and place Romania on the podium. “They even went so far as to set the goals that had to be achieved in international competitions. Nadia lived in excess, but she didn’t live in a golden cage. He lived in Bucharest quite modestly, since a large part of the economic benefits he obtained went to the state accounts”.
The paltry salary compared to the accomplishments was not the reason I left. “Beyond the microphones, of which she had no record, travel restrictions began to be imposed on her in the 1980s, after the Károlyis never returned from a tour of the United States. It was silly, because Nadia had no intention of leaving the country until 1989, when she was tired of following such aberrant rules. He thought about it seriously and ended up agreeing to leave his life and family behind to embark on his own path in search of the freedom he had never had”, concludes the historian.
