Comaneci on escape
NZPA-Reuter London A gymnast, Nadia Comaneci, described in an interview with a British newspaper how she fled Romania last week under cover of darkness, dodging border guards and walking and crawling for six hours through mud and across frozen rivers.
Comaneci, now in asylum in the United States, told the “Mail” she kept her escape plans secret for fear of being picked up by the hardline Romanian authorities.
“I could not say goodbye to my parents. I even had to lie to my brother,” she said. Comaneci, aged 14 when she made Olympic history with seven perfect 10 scores «n the 1976 Montreal games, was interviewed after her arrival in the United States on Friday. She said she made her escape with the help of Constantin Penait, a 34-year-old Californian builder whom she met four years ago and planned to marry. “It was midnight when we started out, walking through mud and open countryside. We were stumbling and often crawling through water and ice,” Comaneci was quoted.
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Press, 5 December 1989, Page 56
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170Comaneci on escape Press, 5 December 1989, Page 56
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