Nadia and the Secret Police

I was at primary school when Romanian gymnast, Nadia Comaneci, stunned the world of Olympic sport with her medal-winning performance in Montreal. I've always been fascinated by her story and life in the Eastern bloc, so I thought I'd give Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police a go.

Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police | Published January 2021 | Read November 2024

Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police explores Nadia's rise to the top of the gymnastics world and the restrictions and surveillance that the Romanian government engaged in as her fame grew. The book covers Nadia's complex relationship with coaches, Bela and Marta Karolyi, her mental health struggles, her resurgence at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, her later withdrawal from international competition, and her defection, just before the fall of the Ceausescu regime.

The book is written by Stejarel Olaru, a Romanian historian, writer, and researcher. Dr Olaru has published several books on Romanian modern history and that of the country's intelligence services. Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police presents a compelling picture of Nadia's life and career, drawing on thousands of secret police archive pages, multiple secret service intelligence documents, and numerous wiretap recordings.

The author's pedigree and the number of historical documents cited in the book give it some credibility, but it's quite a dry read. That might be due to being lost in translation a little. It's somewhat puzzling, too, that a book of this nature has been written about a living person, as I understand it, without their authorisation.

I was also interested in the picture that the book paints of life under a communist regime. All the oppressive control and surveillance depicted in the book is both fascinating and alarming. It saddened me to read about the abusive and controlling Karolyis, but I understand that Nadia has never spoken publicly against them (although other gymnasts have). The material on the verbal humiliation, the beatings, and the starvation to keep Nadia at performance weight at the hands of the Karolyis is heartbreaking to read. The book also claims that the Karolyis stole Nadia's winnings and the gifts she was given as she competed or performed internationally.

Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police is a hard one to rate. The content is fascinating and clearly well researched, but the writing a bit stodgy, so it reads more like an academic piece than something for a mainstream audience. Again, that might be down to the translation. All the excerpts from the secret police files and surveillance documents are tough to plough through. The academic approach the author takes makes the book feel authentic, but it lacks heart. There is no debate or position put forward of life under a Communist regime, just a reporting of the facts. I went into the book hoping for thoughtful insights, but instead I found a depressingly bleak read. All that said, I was still invested in the material and I trudged through to the end. I would now like to read Letters to a young gymnast, written by Nadia herself.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐