Which gymnast recorded the first Olympic perfect 10 in 1976?

Nadia Comăneci recorded the first Olympic perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics. She earned the historic score of 10.00 on the uneven bars during the team competition.

The electronic scoreboard at Montreal’s Forum was not designed to display a two-digit score, so it showed 1.00 instead. Judges had awarded the maximum mark, but spectators initially had to understand what the unusual display meant. Comăneci went on to receive six more perfect 10s at those Games.

The Romanian gymnast won three gold medals in Montreal: the all-around, uneven bars and balance beam. She also won a silver medal with Romania’s team and a bronze on the floor exercise. At age 14, she became the first gymnast to win an Olympic all-around title with a perfect score in one routine.

A perfect 10 was the top possible score under the scoring system used then. It is not the same as modern elite gymnastics scoring, which uses separate difficulty and execution components and is not capped at 10.