At the age of 14, Comneci became one of the stars of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.

During the team compulsory portion of the competition on July 18, her routine on the uneven
bars was awarded a perfect ten.[19] It was the first time in modern Olympic gymnastics history that
the score had ever been awarded.[20] When Omega SA, the traditional Olympics scoreboard
manufacturer, asked before the 1976 games whether four digits would be necessary for
gymnastics, it was told that a perfect 10.00 was not possible.[21] Nadia's perfect marks were thus
displayed as 1.00 instead.[22] The crowd was at first confused, but soon understood and gave her
a rousing ovation.[20] Over the course of the Olympics, Comneci would earn six additional tens,
en route to capturing the all-around, beam, and bars titles, and a bronze medal on the floor
exercise. The Romanian team also placed second in the team competition, capturing silver.[23]
Comneci was the first Romanian gymnast to win the Olympic all-around title. She also holds the
record for being the youngest Olympic gymnastics all-around champion ever. With the revised
age-eligibility requirements in the sport (gymnasts must now turn 16 in the calendar year to
compete in the Olympics; in 1976 gymnasts had to be 14 by the first day of the competition[24]), it
is currently not possible to break this record legally. Up until 2016, she held the distinction of
being the most recent female all-around Olympic champion to have competed in a second
Olympic Games. That distinction is now held by 2012 Olympic All-Around champion, Gabby
Douglas, who was named to the 2016 Olympic Team on July 10.