Comaneci Scores a 10 With Quote on Freedom

I want to thank Randy Harvey for his fine article on Nadia Commaneci. It’s hard to explain a concept as elusive as freedom. Nobody has done it better than the former Romanian gymnast did after defecting to the United States: “I thought America would be all crowded and polluted but there are so many trees and flowers and birds, and the birds make so much noise. They sing so. I thought to myself, ‘Here even the birds are free.’ ”

CLARENCE B. SANTOS, Los Angeles