Comaneci, Romanians have shot at Russians

MONTREAL (UPI) -- Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci received a perfect 10.0 score on her final Olympic compulsory routine Sunday to bring her team within striking distance of the favored Russians led by popular Olga Korbut.

"I knew it would come out well and I was very glad," the 14-year-old Nadia said through an interpreter after being judged as perfect on the uneven parallel bars.

Korbut, the darling of the 1972 Munich games, questioned Comaneci's perfect mark, the first in modern Olympic history but Nadia's 17th.

"I question the 10.0 that was given because there were two flaws in the performance,:" said Korbut, who is vying with Nadia for both medals and popularity.

The Russian women clearly dominated the first of five days of gymnastics competition. Despite several minor errors on the balance beam and a slight mistake by Korbut in the floor exercise, the Russians led Romania after the compulsories, 194.20-192.70.

The East German women were in third place at 191.60 with the United States and Czechoslovakia clustered three full points behind.

The men's compulsory round was to be completed Sunday night.

The sellout crowd of 16,000 in the Montreal Forum stood and threw flowers when Comaneci's perfect score was awarded. Their applause swelled rhythmically and brought the tiny star back on to the floor twice where she uncharacteristically waved both arms overhead in acknowledgement.

Monday the women were to perform optional routines with the men's optionals Tuesday. Combining the scores of Sunday's compulsories with the optional will determine the team titles.

The top six in each event compete Thursday and Friday for medals. The top 36 men and women in combined scoring meet Wednesday to determine the all-around champions.