Comaneci Guaranteed U.S. Asylum, Arrives in N.Y. : Defection: The former Romanian Olympic star gymnast says she ‘wanted to have a free life.’

Former Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci, beaming and declaring that she “wanted to have a free life,” arrived in New York on Friday to begin that life after being guaranteed political asylum in this country.

Comaneci, who as a pint-sized 14-year-old had electrified the world with her unprecedented perfect scores in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, was greeted at John F. Kennedy Airport by a horde of government officials and security personnel, as well as well-wishers who presented her with bouquets.

It appeared that the clothes she was wearing--a denim jacket, jeans and blouse--were virtually all she had brought with her when she slipped across the Romanian border Tuesday. Her whereabouts and plans had not been clear until Friday morning, when she contacted a U.S. Embassy in Europe to ask for refugee status.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher did not specify which embassy, but Comaneci’s flight arrived from Vienna.

“I am very happy because I am here in America, and I wanted for a long time to come here, but I didn’t have somebody to help me,” she said in halting English at an impromptu airport news conference.

Comaneci then gestured to a man beside her, and said, “I didn’t have somebody to help me. This is my friend who helped me to come here, and I want to thank him.” She did not name her companion, but the Associated Press identified him as Constanti Panit, a native of France.

Asked about the embarrassment her defection would cause her government, Comaneci replied, “It’s not my business.”

However, the loss of the youngest citizen ever to be named a “Hero of Socialist Labor” seems certain to be a serious blow to the hard-line regime of Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu.

Ceausescu has stood firm against the changes that have swept Eastern Europe in recent weeks, and used repressive tactics to prevent any such groundswell in his country. Boucher said that Washington’s swift decision to grant Comaneci refuge here was based on a “well-founded fear of persecution” in her homeland.

Comaneci, now 28, was reported to have been unhappy because she had been denied permission to travel or work abroad.

She told reporters she was uncertain of her plans. “I just want to live in America,” Comaneci said. “I was nine times in the states, and I know the life here.”

Several sources said she plans to travel to Miami after staying briefly in New York.

It had been speculated that she would join her former coach, Bela Karolyi, who had defected in 1981 and encouraged her to follow.

Karolyi, who now lives in Houston, had coached her in the Montreal Games, where the 4-foot-11 gymnast won three gold medals after scoring seven perfect 10s. No other gymnast had ever before even scored as many as one perfect assessment from all the judges.

That was the pinnacle of her career as a gymnast. Injuries and age dulled her performance somewhat, although she still won two gold medals in the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

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