As an insight into the tensions between Comaneci, her coaches and the Communist regime, as well as tensions between Romanian and Soviet gymnastics … Nadia Comaneci and the Secret Police is captivating.

Diana Georgescu, Times Literary Supplement

Stejarel Olaru illustrates the extent to which the Ceaucescu regime would go to secure Olympic success: it created a massive system of surveillance and an extensive network of informers and agents to control a group of young gymnasts and their ambitious, irascible coaching couple, Bela and Marta Karolyi. Olaru provides important insight into the machinations of Romania's Securitate and how national prestige triumphed over protecting teenage protégés from physical, emotional, and verbal abuse.

Victoria Harms, Assistant Professor of History, Johns Hopkins University, USA

A compelling examination of the public and private personae of Nadia that assesses the price of fame under a dictatorship. At the same time, Olaru's study exposes the intrusion of the state into the lives of citizens in Ceausescu's Romania.

Dennis Deletant, Emeritus Professor of Romanian Studies, The School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College, London

Starting from the extraordinary story of Nadia Comaneci, the book analyzes the unseen side of the sports performances of female artistic gymnastics and the relationship between sports and politics during the communist regime in Romania. Coaches, athletes, officials, and political decision-makers were caught in a network of complicated relationships that are revealed by the author through the secret police archive.

Simona Petracovschi, Professor at Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, West University of Timisoara, Romania

Thoroughly researched.

OUTinPerth