Perfect Execution

Jeevan Sivasubramaniam Posted by Jeevan Sivasubramaniam, Managing Director, Editorial, Berrett-Koehler Publishers Inc.



At the 1976 Olympic Games, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci's routine on the uneven bars was awarded a perfect ten.
At the 1976 Olympic Games, Romanian gymnast Nadia Comăneci's routine on the uneven bars was awarded a perfect ten. It was the first time in modern Olympic gymnastics history that the score had ever been awarded. When Omega SA, the traditional Olympics scoreboard manufacturer, asked before the 1976 games whether four digits would be necessary for gymnastics scoreboards, it was told that a perfect 10.00 was not possible. Nadia's perfect marks were thus displayed as 1.00 instead. The crowd was at first confused, but soon understood and gave her a rousing ovation. Over the course of the Olympics, Comăneci would earn six additional tens. This footage has been seen over fifty million times worldwide