Going Into The Lion’s Den
As the best gymnast of her era, Nadia was the target of intense competition. This was the situation at the Olympic Games in Moscow, which she likened to entering a lion’s den. Russian soldiers have been brought to the stands to heckle her in an effort to motivate her team to defeat her. The soldiers would get up and make a lot of noise whenever she performed in order to distract her and force a mistake. Thankfully, her professionalism kept her from getting sidetracked. Despite the poor sportsmanship, she went on to win medals and defeat her rivals.
Going Into The Lion’s Den
Politically Motivated Event
Throughout the Olympics, Nadia’s coach refused to accept the judging panel’s verdicts on her performance. The public believed his claims that the Olympics were politically motivated because of his outrage. The superpowers and the nations in their spheres of influence contested everything during the Cold War, but the Olympics were supposed to be off-limits. Béla’s repeated accusations of political bias on the part of the Russian judges were taken very seriously. Both the Russian and Romanian governments took the allegations seriously.
Politically Motivated Event
