WORLD : Nadia Hinted at U.S. Embassy

Nadia Comaneci, the Olympic gymnastics champion who defected from her native Romania, may be at the U.S. Embassy in Switzerland, her coach said today.

Embassy officials, however, denied she was there, adding another twist to the mystery surrounding the 1976 Olympic champion, who crossed the border into Hungary in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday.

“As far as I know, she is probably in the U.S. Embassy in Bern,” Bela Karolyi told the Associated Press in a telephone interview from Stuttgart, West Germany, where he is coaching an American women’s gymnastics team.

“She is waiting to get some travel papers,” said Karolyi.