MCSMaria's Artistic Gymnastics Blog

Who knew Katie Holmes was a gym fan? The former Mrs. Tom Cruise paid a visit to the glorious Nadia Comaneci at her and husband Bart Conner's gym in Norman, Oklahoma.  Nadia shared the photos on her Facebook page (below the cut).

The BBC is officially bringing the first ever gymnastics reality television competitions to audiences and judging the competition will be the fabulous Nadia Comaneci and London Olympian, Louis Smith.

While listening to a podcast about badass people (nearly all of whom were men), I decided it was time to celebrate the badass-ness of women. Since this is a gymnastics blog, this article will focus on bad asses in the sport of gymnastics, particularly women in gymnastics. These women are tough for their perseverance, their bravery, and just generally being awesome.

The American Cup has long been regarded as a breeding ground for America's next Olympic darling. Mary Lou, Nastia, Shawn, Jordyn, Gabby, do I need to continue? This is among the many reasons that the American Cup is called the "Scam" Cup on the gymternet. Remember the year that what, five or six American girls were among the 8 or 9 girl field? Occasionally, a non-American athlete will triumph and earn the top sport on that  podium. Here are 5 athletes who did just that.

Making their way on the red carpet at the Golden Globes, Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner hobnobbed with the likes of Reese Witherspoon and Jared Leto. Jared won the Golden Globe award for best supporting actor for his performance in the movie Dallas Buyers' Club.

Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner spent their weekend in Los Angeles walking the red carpet at the Golden Globe Awards.

In honor of Nadia's birthday I am featuring her gold medal winning balance beam routine from the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. This particular routine is from the event finals where she won gold with her seventh perfect ten of the Games in Montreal. I looked at a lot of her routines and I have to say I really prefer her beam over any of her others.

Since I am currently reading Nadia Comaneci's book Letters to a Young Gymnast , I was inspired to feature her routines on my blog this week since I've been majorly slacking. This video from Sport Everywhere on YouTube shows the start value of Nadia's gold medal winning balance beam routine from the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. Set to the Cary Brother's "Alien" (choice of the editor), it's beautiful and almost ethereal. It's quite fascinating to see the stark difference 37 years of code changes makes.

Nadia Comaneci is a gymnastics legend. Nadia is credited with receiving the first ever perfect 10 in gymnastics. First at the inuagural American Cup in Madison Square Gardens and then making it an encore performance by doing the same thing at the Olympic Games in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1976.