The coach of the Romanian national football team, Gheorghe Hagi, said on Saturday, at the inauguration of the 'Nadia Comaneci' hall in Otopeni, that the former great gymnast represents perfection for him and that she will always make him feel proud to be Romanian.

'Congratulations to Mr. Tiriac for having this initiative. Nadia represents perfection, a Romanian of whom we will always be proud. She has always shown us what the direction in sports is. I support children, a very good initiative, because that is where we need to invest, to discover for later, to represent Romania. Ultimately, we all work for Romania,' Hagi declared.

He also said that he would like football to rise to the level of other Romanian champions: 'We have many athletes who have achieved great results and who need to be talked about more. I hope that we, football, will rise to their level at some point, to the level of those who represented Romania very well.'

Former world boxing champion Lucian Bute, one of the great athletes present at the inauguration event of the 'Nadia Comaneci' hall, said that it is impressive that people stop him on the street in Montreal and tell him about the former great gymnast.

'I am honored to be present at this inauguration, it is something special that will remain in history. It is impressive in Montreal to walk down the street and have people stop you to tell you about Nadia in '76. I can't wait for Nadia to come to Montreal,' said Bute.

OTOPENI - INAUGURARE - SALA GIMNASTICA
Photo credit: Angelo BREZOIANU / AGERPRES Photo

The ''Nadia Comaneci'' Hall in Otopeni, built by the Ion Tiriac Foundation, was inaugurated on Saturday, exactly 50 years after the golden moment of Romanian gymnastics, July 18, 1976, when Nadia Comaneci won the first 10 in Olympic history.

Numerous Olympic champions, great athletes and politicians attended the inaugural event.AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Adrian Tone; EN - writing by: Bogdan Gabaroi)

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