LONDON: Legendary Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci said she still vividly remembers her historic Olympic performance at the 1976 Montreal Games where she famously became the first gymnast to score a perfect 10.

Comaneci won a total of nine medals, five gold, at the 1976 and 1980 Olympic Games, and the 54-year-old said her memories of those moments remain clear exactly four decades on.

“I vividly can feel the time when I was walking in the arena and the noise,” Comaneci said.

“I can sense all of that. I can feel who was doing the floor routine when I was doing the balance beam. I remember all those moments even now.”

Comaneci, who runs a gymnastics academy in the United States with her husband, former US Olympic champion Bart Conner, said she’s still a keen enthusiast of the sport that brought her worldwide notoriety.

“I practice when nobody is in the gym,” she told Laureus.com, speaking in her role supporting the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.

“I flip a little cartwheel, something safe that’s close to the ground. It’s all in there, the technique, everything is there. I have to kick a handstand every day, wherever I am.”