Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci captured hearts across the globe after her history-making perfect 10 in the 1976 Montreal Games, which landed her on the cover of TIME. Future husband Bart Conner, on the other hand, had already been won over.
Conner, an American gymnast, had kissed the 14-year-old Comaneci after both won at the American Cup International meet in New York City.
“After the meet, we stood together and raised these big silver cups,” Conner told People in 1995. “Some photographer said, ‘Why don’t you lean down and give her a little kiss?’ I did, and it ran in the paper the next day.”
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It took 14 years and a harrowing escape from communist Romania for Comaneci and Conner to meet again, but the two finally began dating after Comaneci took a room in Conner’s Oklahoma home.
The gold-medalist couple (Conner snagged two golds in the 1984 Olympics) married in Romania in 1996 and had a son in 2006.