| 
  • If you are citizen of an European Union member nation, you may not use this service unless you are at least 16 years old.

  • You already know Dokkio is an AI-powered assistant to organize & manage your digital files & messages. Very soon, Dokkio will support Outlook as well as One Drive. Check it out today!

View
 

20 March 2011 Nadia Comaneci The FCG Years

Page history last edited by Archer844 13 years ago

Posted by Archer & Erick on 3/20/2011, 2:32 pm

 

 

Born November 16, 1961 in Rumania, first gained fame was an Olympic artistic gymnast, climaxed by her legendary perfect 10 score on the uneven parallel bars in the 1976 Olympics, but by 1978 she moved into the world of Full Contact Gymnastics and it was there that she made her greatest contribution to women’s sports. For although FCG, as it was known, had been in a semi-underground existence for many years, it was really Nadia who took the sport out of the shadows and made it one of the most exciting women’s contact sports in history.

NADIA COMANECI



Nadia herself said: “I probably would have given up artistic gymnastics and become just another coach. Instead, it made me realize that what I had always wanted was direct competition with the other girls, not just against myself.” Then she would give a sly, shy smile and say: “It also gave me the chance to settle a few scores with girls I had been competing against since childhood.”

NELLIE KIM




For knowledgeable FCG fans, this “grudge match’ aspect of the sport has always been a major recruiting tool and none more than Nadia. Nadia had battled Russian gymnast Nellie Kim for a number of years, but they had not actually come to blows until the 1976 World Cup. Kim had made a practice of trying to bait the younger woman and was doing it again. This time Nadia suddenly charged Nellie and slammed her in the chest with a flying thrust kick. Nellie did a backflip and landed hard. Nadia jumped on her fallen foe, grabbed her by the hair and beat her face into the mat. Nellie somehow managed to get the little tigress off her and the pair battled it out on the mat until coaches dragged them apart. Nellie was bleeding from a bloody nose and looked like she had plainly gotten the worst of it. World Cup authorities attempted to suppress the incident but it had been witnessed by talent scouts for FCG and careful note was made of the two as potential recruits...

TEODORA UNGUREANU



Even so, Nadia herself says her first encounter with FCG had actually taken place earlier that year with old friend and teammate Teodora Ungureanu who had already been recruited by the FCG. “She wanted to show me what it was like and I saw her fight our old enemy Olga Korbut. It was so exciting. There they were on a floor exercise mat, doing leaps and flips but coming out to pound each other with workout gloves or try to pin each other. Olga was ruthless as she ever as, she finally managed to get Teodora with a flying head scissors, flipped her to mat and pinned her. She look so smug that I wanted to go out and fight her myself, but I knew better than that and just gave her my best icy stare.”

Nadia adds: “ Some of my coaches were horrified I was interested in FCG, but my principal coach Bela Karolyi was more sympathetic. I think he must have sensed I wanted to go to right then. I think the Rumanian government officials didn’t approve either and that was the real reason Bela was removed as my coach. So I stayed with artistic gymnastics, but I was determined to get into it as soon as I could. That turned out to be 2 years later in 1978. I had begun some sort-of-secret training with Teodora, but then I had permission to do it full-time. Personally, I think they had begun to realize the opportunities FCG offered their older gymnasts. I knew Nellie was already gone into it too and Olga was prancing around as the Russian FCG champion. I wanted to defeat both of them and every day I imagined what I was doing in training, I was doing to them.” Nadia gives a sheepish little smile: “I have always been a VERY determined athlete.”

Nadia’s first chance to show what she could do came in the Rumanian FCG championships of 1979. This was the first year the Rumanian sports authority decided to allow a championship FCG tournament to be held. (They were clearly eyeing the World FCG Cup to be held in Budapest, Hungary in 1980). To no one’s surprise, the final round came down to Teodora Ungureanu vs. Nadia.

“There are no friends on a FCG mat,” Nadia said quietly, “and we both wanted to win. Now in the FCG finals there are 15 2-minute rounds. You are going at top speed for most of them and it requires great endurance, which is exactly why I liked it. In this case, Teodora and battled back and forth for 13 rounds. More than once one or the other came close to a pin, but always the victim would escape by breaking the pin, or reaching out to touch the boundary line. I know I was hurting and exhausted, but I could see that Teodora was, too, in fact I knew her well enough to know she was vulnerable. So I pulled myself together and did these forward flips one right after the other. She tried to do it too, but she was slower, which I counted on. I caught her in midair and brought her down on her back, my knees tucked up so that they hit her chest. The lungblower had her paralyzed, but I threw in a couple of quick left and right punches to make sure she stayed stunned. Then I spread out in a cross body pin. The ref counted her. I had my first big win. I didn’t realize until I stood up that I had actually knocked Teodora out. I felt pretty bad about that at first, but when she came to she congratulated me and told me: “I know you are going all the way in this sport. KO Korbut for me!”

OLGA KORBUT



Of course, as every FCG fan knows, KO’ing Korbut was exactly what Nadia did in 1980 in the World FCG Cup. Korbut was a great FCG fighter, but she had a way of infuriating opponents. This often helped her by causing angry opponents to make mistakes. Nadia was much too cool and focused for that. Korbut had a attack move she called “The Eagle”--she would leap forward, chest thrust out, arms spread wide, looking vulnerable, but at the last second, she would suddenly tuck herself in and hit the opponent like a cannonball.

OLGA KORBUT: "THE EAGLE"



“She didn’t use it the preliminary rounds and complained about a knee problem,” Nadia sniffed. “She didn’t fool me for a minute. I knew she was saving that for the finals. She got by Nellie Kim and I am sure she thought Nellie was the better fighter. So about the 7th round, she suddenly unleashed the Eagle, but I had studied tape, so I knew when she was about the launch into it. My counter was to charge right at her and leap UNDER her before she could tuck up and grab her legs. She did a belly-flop right into the mat and I her legs in hand. I pulled the legs forward, got a chinlock and forced her head back. I knew her spine couldn’t take it and she was slapping the mat to quit. The ref came in and it was over. I had not only beaten Olga Korbut, taken away her title, but I had made her submit. That was a real pleasure, especially because I had beaten her best move. I don’t think she was the same fighter after that.” (Quiet smiles of satisfaction from Nadia whenever she tells this tale).

Of course, in any sport, one challenger defeated leads to another and this one was Nellie Kim who was Olga Korbut’s top contender and with the elimination of Olga, she moved to the top of the Soviet FCG team.

“Nellie was a lot like Olga when it came to pre-fight taunting,” Nadia said grimly. “but she was really a better FCG fighter than Korbut. I should know, because I had the hardest time with her. I mean if you look at our fights, we wrecked each other time after time. The fights always went to a pin or a knockout. No points wins for us. I actually admire her for that, she had very little fear and could fight hard even when she was hurt. That first FCG fight in Budapest in the 1980 World FCG Cup, we went through 10 rounds, I was sure was weakening her legs, but she let him come flipping in and timed it beautifully. I ended up being practically impaled when she turned and lunged at me with her shoulder. I flew backwards and landed on my butt, then she did a running full body splash on me and pounded my face before I could cover up. The next thing I know she had schoolgirl pin on me and it was all over. I hear they sold a lot of posters of her sitting her on my shoulders, my face trapped between her knees and she was raising her arms in triumph. Shall we say, I was very motivated after that.”

Nadia soon found that the road to a rematch with Nellie Kim was not easy. The Russians had a secret weapon: the aging (in late 20’s by then, but old for a gymnast) Ludmilla Tourischeva. Tourischeva had been really been the first great Russian full contact gymnastic champion, but her serene, methodical approach lacked the flash and dash of an Olga Korbutt. So Korbutt had gotten for more attention in recent years. Typical of the classy Ludmilla, she didn’t blink at finding herself assigned to “gatekeeper duty”--though Nadia herself said: “I knew what they wanted her to do--make sure I was in no condition to seriously challenge Nellie Kim.”

LUDMILLA TOURISHEVA


 

If Nadia had any doubts about Tourisheva possessing a killer instinct, she was quickly disillusioned when they met in a semi-final match at the European FCB Cup in Prague in 1981. Ludmilla began quietly mixing boxing with few kicks and leaps, easily fending off Nadia’s attempts at attack. After three rounds of sizing Nadia up, Ludmilla suddenly unleashed a fierce kicking attacked aimed at Nadia’s ribs and followed up by suddenly leaping takedown that she shifted into a crushing scissors that enclosed Nadia’s battered ribs. Nadia managed to break the hold with a boundary line touch and went on the offensive herself, aiming kicks at Tourisheva’s thighs and knees. This battle of attrition raged through the middle rounds, leaving both fighters limping and hurting. The younger woman finally managed catching a tired Ludmilla with forward flip kick in which she came out of her flip with both feet crunching into Ludmilla’s sternum. The Russian was hurled to the ground and the exhausted Nadia applied the hooked-leg pin (an innovation on Nadia’s part that rapidly became one of her trademarks).

“But Tourisheva had done her part,” Nadia related with quiet unhappiness, “when I faced Nellie again in the finals, my ribs were taped up and that’s just where Kim went after them. I tried, but I was hurting so bad. The ref saw I couldn’t continue and stopped the fight. Nellie looks so smug. I think that was my worst FCG moment.”

The rib injuries were serious and slowed Nadia up for some time, but she kept up her focus on Kim and it worked towards the 1982 World FCG Cup which was being held in Helsinki, Finland. Once again the Russian team tried to send out Ludmilla to soften up Nadia, but Nadia was taking no chance. “I had been practiced a spin kick out of a forward flip just for her. I just waited for the chance to use it in which turned out to be in the first room. It worked like a charm. She took it just behind the ear and she went out like a light. One of the fastest wins I ever had in competition. I swear I saw Nellie Kim turn pale when she realized nobody was going to protect her from me.”

<><>

If Nellie Kim was afraid going into the finals of that World Cup, she certainly gave no sign of it when they lined at opposite ends of the mat. She looked icy calm and determined. Nadia, stoic as ever, betrayed no emotion though some said her eyes looked like “black ice”. The bell rang and the two charged in at each other, Surprisingly, beyond of couple of running flips, neither used kicks. Instead they closed on each other and pounded away with their workout gloves. The boxing match raged through the first three rounds, mostly aimed at each other’s heads and scored, Then the kicks started coming aimed at the body (Nellie, of course, went after Nadia’s suspect ribs, but Nadia seemed to sustain the punishment). It was not until the sixth round that Nellie suddenly went airborne with a high leaping kick that very nearly took off Nadia’s head, though she threw herself flat to duck most of the damage.

Nadia then went airborne herself in the 7th, but her thrust kick slammed hard into Nellie’s thighs. This commenced a determined round after round attack on Nellie’s legs with kicks. Nellie responded with a vigorous boxing attack that rocked Nadia and forced her backwards. Nadia’s face was banged up severely in these rounds and by the start of the 11th round she appeared to some to be in trouble. Nadia’s right eye was swollen and her left was not much better either, plus her nose was just beginning to show signs of bleeding. However Nadia did not give up faith in the damage her kicking had done to even the strong legs of Nellie Kim, she forced Nellie to pursue her around the mat and realized the Russian girl was hurt to legs. Nellie was tiring rapidly by the 13th round and desperate to corner the nimbler Rumanian, but unable to do so on her shaking legs. It was then that Nadia suddenly shifted with a fierce boxing attack first to the belly to bring down the Kim guard, then an amazing high kick that caught Nellie in the face.

The Russian girl staggered back her hands covering her nose. Nadia was on her with a blinding attack that mixed kicks with fist punches. The bell sounded just as Kim sank to her knees. Nadia went immediately back to her corner as Nellie’s attendants had to semi-carry her back to her stool. It quickly became apparent that there was debate in the Russian corner whether or not to continue (Nellie Kim’s nose appeared --and indeed was--broken). Nellie herself showed her courage by shaking off her coaches and heading back out for the 14th round.

It was brave move, (one that even Nadia had to grudgingly admit “Kim showed me she had the heart of a warrior”), but fool-hardy. The bloodlust was in Nadia Comaneci, though little of showed as she maintained her usual stoic façade as she charged out for the start of the round. Then, to the utter shock of everyone in the arena (and especially Nellie Kim) she launched herself forward in her own version of Olga Korbutt’s infamous “Eagle” and slammed shoulder-first into Nellie midsection.

"NADIA'S EAGLE"



Kim was doubled over and smashed into the mat. Swiftly, Nadia seized Nellie legs and pulled them over the Russian girl’s own head in a matchbook pin that left Nellie Kim’s butt thrust embarrassingly high into the air. The referee darted in and made the count for the win. Nadia then threw down Nellie’s legs and stood over the dazed and beaten Russian, who was now starfished beneath her.

“What I really wanted to do was plant my foot on her chest and raise my arm in victory, but I knew that would be going too far. Instead I swung on my heel to show her my butt and marched away while the crowd chanted my name over and over.. I remember thanking everyone who had made this day possible, especially my friend Teodora and my coaches. I even remembered to thank Nellie who was slumped on her stool with this look of disbelief on her face that she had lost…Maybe I hadn’t exactly destroyed her, but I had destroyed the illusion of her invincibility…”

That confrontation between Nadia and Nellie became like the Ali/Fraser battles in boxing. Indeed, Nadia has often been called the “Muhammad Ali of Full Contact Gymnastics” though she has modestly said: “If I helped lift our sport into the mainstream than I am proud of that. I admit many girls have told me ‘I got in to FCG because of you.’ It gives me a thrill to know that.” (Indeed, such American FCG superstars like Mary Lou Retton, Kim Zmeskial, Shannon Miller and Kerri Strug have all said that they decided to try FCG after seeing Nadia battle Nellie.)

 

Nadia’s promotion of FCG spread rapidly through the rest of the world when she and the “FCG All-Stars” undertook exhibition tours to spread the FCG gospel. Within a remarkably short number of years, FCG had taken root in many countries and Nadia found she had to struggle to stay on top. In this she was aided by her development of genuine boxing skills to accompany the gymnastic kicks and leaps.

“I learned that the hard way,” Nadia admitted, “in 1984, I was in London for the World Cup and ran into Suzanne Dando.




She had been an average artistic gymnast, but as an FCG fighter she was amazing because she had really studied boxing and wrestling. She was the first one of really make effective use of the body scissors and 4-figure leglock to weaken an opponent. They had always been in the rules, but most of us being gymnast would rather kick than scissor or lock up an opponent. She had me down with a scissors across my chest and I couldn’t breathe. The only thing that saved me was I was able to twist around and get a kick into her head that shook her enough to get loose. Even then she got me in close with these short punches that really had my head spinning. Once again I was saved by a kick to her jaw that knocked her out, but it was close. After that, I studied boxing and wrestling holds very seriously.”

Although not so well known as her FCG exploits, Nadia had a number of boxing and/or wrestling matches with well-known athletes, especially female figure skaters. “Skaters and gymnasts made great natural rivals because we both have strong legs. I remember some great bouts in the mid-1980’s with the likes of

 

Katarina Witt,

Katarina Witt 01.jpg

Rosalynn Sumners



and Tiffany Chin.



I won--most of the time, but I never seriously considered giving up FCG. I loved it too much.”

All good things must come to an end for athletes and by 1987, Nadia says she knew it was time to retire. “I lost my World Cup title to a rising young Russian named Svetlana Boginskaya. She was a wonderfully relentless FCG fighter and she knocked me out in the 11th round with a flying head scissors (I guess the Russians learned from Suzanne Dando, too!). I hurt my neck and it was just one injury too many. I was slow to recover and finally realized it was time for me to move on and I retired to coaching. I’ve worked in coaching ever since and love introducing new girls to my sport. The sport has been good to me and I want to make it good for the girls who are brave and strong enough to try it.”



Written by

Archer & Erich V.

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.