MIAMI, Aug 2 (Reuters) She was a gold medallist at just 14, producing the first perfect score in Olympics gymnastics but Nadia Comaneci says that the common view that she sacrificed her childhood for sporting success is not true. More...

Nadia Comaneci has described her training for her second Olympics, and starving herself to get fit, but says it was not too hard here, no complaints: [QUOTE] During her peak, the New York Times described the Romanian as performing with ''joyless expression'' and like many athletes from the then communist Eastern Bloc she rarely let her emotions show. In an interview with Reuters though Comaneci said that, despite starting her gymnastics career at 6 and winning gold eight years later in 1976 she does not feel like she missed out on an ordinary childhood or suffered misery for her medals. ''People have told me that (I looked sad) when I was I competing but I never complained,'' she said. ''People assume a lot of things about gymnasts -- that the girls work too hard, it's way too much for them, they are too young to work so hard. I never personally complained, everybody else complained for me. ''In any case, it was not too hard -- it was what it takes to be an Olympic champion. Also nobody says anything about boys at 12-13 years old working too hard. It's only the girls -- oh, poor girls. Why are we treated differently?'' Comaneci, who defected to the United States in 1989 just before the Romanian revolution overthrew dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, is now a 46-year-old mother married to former US gold medal winning gymnast Bart Conner.[/QUOTE] Nadia got the rewards from it: [QUOTE] ''I basically have my life today as a result of what I did as a child. What did I miss out on? Yeah, I missed not hanging out at shopping malls, I guess, but that is not a big deal because you don't get a medal for that,'' she said. ''When I look back I am happy that my mum took me to the gymnastics club. I didn't join gymnastics to become a famous athlete or celebrity, it just happened -- I did more than I expected of course,'' she said. Comaneci, who won three golds in Montreal and then two more in Moscow four years later, had a tough taskmaster in coach Bela Karolyi. Her childhood consisted of hour after hour of practice with little or no material reward and she feels today's gymnasts have it less rough. ''What is different is that they can make a living from gymnastics and people stay longer in the sport. Also you don't have to do four events, you can specialise in one, so that shortens their workout. We had to do compulsory as well don't forget. ''But the hard work is the same. There is no magic pill, you have to work and train hard. ''People asked what was the secret of Romanian gymnastics -- we just worked twice as hard as everyone else. Now everyone does it -- which is why they are much better,'' she says with a grin. [/QUOTE] The training doesn't have to be like Comaneci's experience to be the top - Shawn Johnson is a great example of this.