12 November In the past.

1961 - Nadia Comaneci, Romanian gymnast

Nadia Elena Comaneci is a Romanian gymnast, winner of five Olympic gold medals, and the first to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event. She is one of the most well-known gymnasts in the world and is often credited for popularizing the sport, around the world including the United States.

The 14-year-old Romanian dazzled the judges in Montreal to the point where they couldn't help but give her a perfect 10. And they didn't stop there, for not only did Comaneci receive the first perfect score, she then proceeded to get six more!

The media needed someone to step up and become the darling of the Montreal Olympics, much like Olga Korbut had four years earlier with three golds in Munich. Korbut was back in 1976 but was really only the third-best gymnast on the powerful Soviet squad behind teammates Nelli Kim and Ludmila Turishcheva. Comaneci was supposed to contend with the Russian juggernaut but no one, including coach Bela Karolyi (who later coached Mary Lou Retton in 1984 and the Kerri Strug-led American women's team in 1996) could have imagined what was to come.

Four of her seven perfect scores, including the first one, came on the uneven bars, which as you might imagine, was one of the three events Comaneci struck gold. But it was on the balance beam that she truly showed off her skill. The beam is considered one of the most difficult Olympic events, with gymnasts performing pirouettes and backflips on a beam measuring just four inches across. All Nadia did was record three more perfect scores and her second gold medal.

In December 2003, her book, Letters To A Young Gymnast, was published. The memoir answers questions that she has received in letters from fans.Comaneci has also been the subject of several unofficial biographies, television documentaries and a made-for-television film, Nadia, that was broadcast in the United States shortly before the 1984 Olympics.

In 2005, Fox.com elected the Greatest Athletes in 150 years of Sports history, Nadia placed 4th in the final voting, ahead of Pelé and Mohammad Ali, and was the highest ranked female athlete.



Comaneci and her husband welcomed their first child, a baby boy named Dylan Paul Conner, on June 3, 2006 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The baby was three weeks early, weighing in only at 4 lb 10 oz and measuring 17 inches long, but was able to go home from the hospital a few days after delivery.

1936 - In California, the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opens to traffic.

The San Francisco Chronicle report of November 13, 1936, read:

"the greatest traffic jam in the history of S.F., a dozen old-fashioned New Year's eves thrown into one—the biggest and most good-natured crowd of tens of thousands ever to try and walk the streets and guide their autos on them—This was the city last night, the night of the bridge opening with every auto owner in the bay region, seemingly, trying to crowd his machine onto the great bridge. And those who tried to view the brilliantly lighted structure from the hilltops and also view the fireworks display were numbered also in the thousands. Every intersection in the city, particularly those near the San Francisco entrance to the bridge, was jammed with a slowly moving auto caravan. Every available policeman in the department was called to duty to aid in regulating the city's greatest parade of autos. One of the greatest traffic congestions of the evening was at Fifth and Mission streets, with down town traffic and bridgebound traffic snarled in an almost hopeless mass. To add to the confusion, traffic signals jammed and red and green lights did not synchronize. Police reported that there was no lessening of the traffic over the bridge, all lanes being crowded with Oakland or San Francisco bound machines far into the night."

Location: Interstate 80 between San Francisco and Alameda Counties.
Length: 23,000 feet (4.5 miles), total project: structural and roadway including approaches, toll plaza, etc.,
8.4 miles.
Structure: Suspension, tunnel, cantilever and truss
West Bay Suspension Bridge:
Length 9260 feet (2822 meters)
Vertical clearance 220 feet
Span Length 2,310 feet
Tower Height 526 feet (from water level)
East Bay Cantilever Bridge:
Length 10,176 feet
Vertical clearance 191 feet
Span length 1,400 feet
Deepest Bridge Pier: 242 feet below water level - 396 feet high
Tunnel: Largest bore tunnel in the world: 76' wide, 58' high (546 meters (1700') long)
Opened: November 12, 1936
Cost: $77 million (Including Transbay Transit Terminal)