Comaneci coming to Montreal for Games anniversary

Retired Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci will be returning to Montreal for the 50-year anniversary of the Summer Games, where she earned her sport’s first Olympic perfect 10.

Comaneci, then 14, was awarded seven 10.0 scores at the 1976 Olympics on her way to winning five medals, including three gold.

On Aug. 1, she will be back in Montreal for an event outside the Olympic Stadium as part of the city’s programming to mark 50 years since the first Games on Canadian soil. 

“Montreal holds a very special place in my heart, and I’m deeply touched to see how, 50 years later, this memory is still alive,” Comaneci said in French in a video played at a press conference on Monday announcing the programming. “I wouldn’t miss this celebration for anything in the world.”

Organizers hope she won’t be the only Nadia there. They’re recruiting dozens of other women named Nadia to join her in a nod to all the babies named after Comaneci in the years following her triumph. Today, there are some 1,800 women in Quebec with the name, they said.

“In ’76, everybody was in love with Nadia,” said Véronique Doucet, the general manager of the organization that manages Parc Jean-Drapeau, a key island site that hosted some of the 1976 events. 

“Everybody started calling their children Nadia, so we realized that there’s many, many Nadias that have that age now.”

Montreal’s Olympic Stadium is seen in Montreal on Monday, May 4, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Organizers are asking people named Nadia who were born between 1976 and 1978 to sign up on Montreal Olympique’s website. Fifty will be selected to meet Comaneci as part of what they’re calling the “Great Nadia” gathering.

The programming to commemorate the 1976 Games anniversary was unveiled at Canadian Olympic Committee offices in Montreal. It includes concerts, art exhibits, sporting events and the celebration that will be attended by Comaneci on the anniversary of the Games’ closing, featuring Montreal rapper Loud, who wrote a song for the Olympic milestone.

Doucet said the Games left a lasting legacy with many venues that are still in use today, including Parc Jean-Drapeau in the St. Lawrence River and the Claude Robillard sports complex in the city’s north end.

“We have sports associations, we have many athletes practising in all of our infrastructure (because of the Games),” she said. “The fact that we had the ’76 Olympic event means that we have (venues) now — big (venues) — in which we can have our international competitions.”

Two women look at the display in Nadia Comaneci Square, which was renamed to honour the Romanian gymnast who achieved the first perfect 10.0 in Olympic history at the 1976 Summer Games, in Montreal on Monday, May 4, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Chantal Rouleau, the Quebec minister responsible for the Montreal region, said the Olympics helped secure Montreal’s place as a world-class city.

“We ensured the position of Montreal, the metropolis of Quebec, as a great city that can invite all the world here for those Olympic Games,” she said. And while it’s unclear if Montreal will host another Olympics, she said, several major events are coming soon to the city, including at the 1976 venues.

Those include Canadian swimming trials at the Olympic pool in June, as well as the ICF canoe sprint World Cup at the Olympic Basin in Parc Jean-Drapeau in July. In September, the city hosts the UCI road cycling World Championship, which organizers describe as the biggest sporting event in the city since the 1976 Olympics. 

The Olympic Stadium, however, is out of commission for sporting events because of an $870-million project to replace the roof.

The Olympic rings are displayed outside Olympic Stadium in Montreal on Monday, May 4, 2026.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

Dubbed the “Big Owe” for runaway construction costs, the stadium is another part of Montreal’s Olympic legacy. Over the years, it drew bad headlines for chunks of falling concrete and its faulty retractable roof that ripped thousands of times — as well as a staggering $1-billion price tag that took Montrealers three decades to pay off. The main arena is under construction until 2028, although there will be several events at Olympic Park this summer including guided tours, the Aug. 1 concert and an exhibit.

Doucet believes that the city has since overcome the bad press surrounding the Games, and has now become an inspiration to other cities — including recent Olympic hosts Paris and Milan — on how to keep Olympic venues in use after the closing ceremony.

“For many countries around the world, we’re an example now,” Doucet said. “So I think we overcame that part of our history.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2026.

By Morgan Lowrie | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.