Nadia (1984 TV Movie)
Leslie Weiner: Younger Nadia Comaneci
Photos
Quotes
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[Nadia fell from the balance beam twice at her first gymnastics competition, to the disgust of her trainers. She is sitting at the back of the bus on the way home. Bela goes and sits beside her]
Bela Karolyi : Don't cry about today.
Young Nadia Comaneci : I'm not crying. I never cry.
Bela Karolyi : You should. So that I could tell you not to. Nadia, the tragedy isn't that you fell. It's that you were the best, and you didn't live up to it! You completely lost your concentration!
Young Nadia Comaneci : It will never happen again. Never!
Bela Karolyi : You're not serious about gymnastics.
Young Nadia Comaneci : Yes I am.
Bela Karolyi : No you're not, you're just playing. You should quit.
Young Nadia Comaneci : No!
Bela Karolyi : Did you ever see *anyone* as bad as you were today?
Young Nadia Comaneci : No.
Bela Karolyi : Neither did I. Quit!
Young Nadia Comaneci : No!
Bela Karolyi : Go back to the schoolyard and do cartwheels if you just want to play!
Young Nadia Comaneci : No! I want to be a champion!
[He hugs her as she starts to cry]
Bela Karolyi : I'll confess something to you. I've been playing too. When I first found you, I only knew four sports. I wasn't even a real gymnastics coach. So I'll make a pact with you so we can both stop playing, hmm? Instead of teaching you what I don't know, I want to teach you what I do know. I will teach you how to have a runner's strength, the cunning of a handball player, and how, like a boxer, to be fearless of pain. You interested?
[Nadia nods]
Bela Karolyi : I'm talking about a lot of work. Total commitment. Total concentration. Don't take up my time and then quit!
Young Nadia Comaneci : I'll never quit.
Bela Karolyi : No one has ever worked as hard as I'm going to work you.
Young Nadia Comaneci : I shall work.
Bela Karolyi : You do, and you will be the best in the world.
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[Teodora transfers to the Karolyis' school and performs her floor routine for the other students. Everyone then leaves for the evening, except for her and Nadia]
Young Teodora Ungureanu : You're the best here, aren't you?
[Nadia nods]
Young Teodora Ungureanu : I knew it. Are you jealous?
[Nadia shakes her head]
Young Teodora Ungureanu : Why not?
Young Nadia Comaneci : It was beautiful.
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Young Nadia Comaneci : [telling her father about the first day of school] We have such fun! We run and jump into a big hole filled with bouncy things!
Gheorge Comaneci : A big hole filled with bouncy things?
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Young Teodora Ungureanu : Another delicious carrot stick, my dear?
Young Nadia Comaneci : Which one is delicious?
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[Bela and the girls have been sitting at the Paris airport for over two hours, waiting for their contact to meet them]
Young Teodora Ungureanu : So, Nadia, how do you like Paris?
Young Nadia Comaneci : Wonderful. Especially the airport.