How it unfolded
During the compulsory team-final rotation, the 14-year-old Comaneci mounted the uneven bars. After roughly 20 seconds of giants, bar transitions and a dismount, the judging panel awarded a 10.00. The problem was the scoreboard: it had been built to display only three digits, and since no one had anticipated the possibility of a perfect score, the display read 1.00. Only after the stadium announcer explained the situation did the crowd react. Comaneci went on to score seven perfect 10s at those Games alone, winning the all-around, beam and uneven bars while adding floor bronze and team silver. The team gold went to the Soviet Union. Her record as the youngest Olympic all-around champion became permanently unbreakable when FIG raised the minimum senior age for women to 16 in 1997. In Romania, the selection-and-concentration model built by Bela and Marta Karolyi was adopted as the national standard, and two years later the Deva National Gymnastics Training Center opened its doors.
Why it still matters
The single most widely known image in gymnastics history, and the moment the concept of a 'perfect 10' escaped the sport to become a phrase in general use. At the same time, this competition opened the golden age of youth-centered development, a trend that would be reversed twenty years later by the introduction of a minimum age. The problem that the 10-point scale could no longer distinguish among top-tier gymnasts was also first exposed at this competition.