Olympic Gold Medal Gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner Look Back on Their Love Story

Their first kiss was captured on camera for all the world to see. Now, 40 years – and 20 years of marriage – later, gold-medal-winning gymnasts Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner are looking back on their unique love story and the sweet moment that started it all.

In the upcoming special Olympics Edition of Oprah: Where Are They Now?, Conner describes meeting Comaneci at the American Cup at N.Y.C.'s Madison Square Garden in March of 1976. Conner, then 17, won the men's title and Comaneci, a 14-year-old gymnast, won the women's title. After the event they proudly held up their silver cups as they posed for a photo together.

"The photographer said, 'Oh, she's adorable. Give her a kiss on the cheek, it'd make a nice picture,' " Conner recalls now, with Comaneci by his side.

They didn't know then how much the chance photo would come to mean. Three months later, Comaneci went on to the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, where she scored seven perfect 10s. "She redefined our sport and became a global superstar," Conner says of his wife.



"And I took 46th place in the Olympics so nobody knew me and she didn't certainly pay attention to me," he adds with a laugh.

The two eventually reconnected in 1991, after Comaneci fled Romania, and were married in 1996. The couple, who now work as coaches at the Bart Conner Gymnastics Academy in Oklahoma and are parents to son Dylan Paul, celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in April.

To think it all started with a kiss.

The special Olympics edition of Oprah: Where Are They Now? airs Sunday at 10:00 p.m. ET, immediately following the documentary Touch the Wall about swimming superstar Missy Franklin.