August 2, 1976

Fourteen-year-old Romanian Nadia Comaneci captured the hearts of the world with her stunning performance. On the opening day of gymnastics competition she scored the first perfect 10 in Olympic history, then added six more the rest of the way. She made every event final and finished with five medals (three gold, one silver and one bronze), just missing out on a sixth with a fourth in the vault.

Photograph by Neil Leifer