The Secrets

Nadia Comaneci was just 14 years old when she became an Olympic Champion. She immediately became “propaganda gold” for Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu. Under the guise of protecting her, Romania’s secret police, the “Securitate”, spied on her every move – hiding microphones throughout her house, tapping her phone, taking surveillance photos and controlling the people around her. There was no one she could trust and nowhere for her to go.

 

“…bugging her house, tapping her phone…and controlling the people around her.”

 

Newly-released Securitate files unveil a world of abuse far greater and more nefarious than previously known. We now know that Nadia’s coaches, Bela and Martha Karolyi, were glorified child abusers – they used physical beatings, starvation and verbal abuse tactics to control their athletes. All the while, an intricate network of informants spied on the Karolyi’s, knew about the abuse, and did nothing – enabling their system to flourish.

Securitate reports describe Bela’s abuse: “[BELA KAROLYI] used to hit the gymnasts on the head when they were executing something wrong…in order to prevent ‘stardom,’ he subjected the children to a very severe regime. Very little food and restrictive physical preparation…Nadia ran away from the training camp.”

As a teenager, Nadia continuously tried to escape the system that held her hostage – first she refused to train, then tried to flee from the gymnastics training center and later even attempted suicide. In every instance, her actions were covered up, ignored, disregarded and even punished as she was forced to continue competing and representing her country on the international stage.

The Escape

Years later, both the Karolyis and Nadia defected to the United States but their contrasting experiences are emblematic of their lives behind the Iron Curtain – one a more facile exit, the other a life-threatening struggle.

In 1981, while touring with Nadia in the United States, the Karolyis took their acquired wealth, much of it earned off Nadia’s success, and slipped out of sight. They left their prized pupil behind at the mercy of the regime – and Nadia paid the price. The Romanian dictatorship subsequently restricted Nadia’s ability to travel, eventually cutting her off altogether. She spent much of her time living in an apartment monitored by the Securitate and working at a government-subsidized job – the wealth accumulated from her achievements never trickled down to Nadia.

“in order to…to counteract and neutralize the attempts to involve her in such actions…follow-up files will be opened on Nadia Comaneci...”

Despite the best efforts of state security, Nadia eventually escaped to the West with the aid of Constantin Panait (l).

Nadia endured this purgatory for eight years until she finally gathered the courage to attempt an escape. Unable to officially leave the country, Nadia made the gutsy decision to cross the border by foot. Walking for six desperate hours through the night, careful to avoid armed guards and barbed wire, she eventually crossed the Hungarian border, only to have to repeat the same experience the very next night, this time crossing the Austrian border. After two harrowing nights, she walked into the U.S. Embassy in Vienna and requested asylum.

 The Cost

After defecting, the Karolyis benefited from a certain celebrity that came from coaching the legendary Nadia Comaneci – and they used that prestige to rewrite their story.

Bela claimed he discovered Nadia on a playground – he took sole credit for shaping her into the athlete she had become, making no mention of the barbaric tactics he exacted upon his protégé. His gregarious, larger-than-life personality tied a bow around his fake story and endeared him to the American public. As his stature in the U.S. grew, he became emboldened, and resorted to his established tactics of physical and emotional abuse to control his athletes.

Documents reveal that the Securitate began actively blackmailing the Karolyis. They were prepared to divulge the truth about the Karolyis and destroy their careers in the States, but only if Bela and Martha spoke out against the Romanian dictatorship. When the Karolyis kept their mouths shut, the secret files remained locked up – and the truth was never revealed.

For Nadia, defecting to the West did not initially provide relief from the isolation and abuse that she had endured for most of her life. The man who helped her defect allegedly held her captive in the States for the better part of a year: moving her against her will from state-to-state, controlling her public appearances and extorting money from her. Eventually Nadia escaped that abusive relationship and set out to rebuild her life in Oklahoma.

Once Nadia was truly free, it is rumored that she and Bela made a pact to leave the past behind: Nadia would not dispute Bela’s version of the truth and in turn, Nadia could leave her traumatic childhood in the past. However, as Bela ages, Nadia has become more emboldened to share her truth – working quietly behind-the-scenes with Romania author, Stej Olaru, on his new book: Nadia and the Securitate.

The Impact

Almost 50 years after Nadia Comaneci made Olympic history, the culture of secrecy and abuse in gymnastics was finally exposed when hundreds of survivors spoke out against their abuser, Larry Nassar. The scandal at USA Gymnastics became a microcosm of a larger societal movement that was beginning to take shape – #MeToo.

USA Gymnastics was just the first national governing body to fall from grace. Since then France, Canada, England, Mexico, Switzerland, Romania and the Netherlands have all been forced to reckon with their own cultures of abuse as hundreds of gymnasts around the world come forward to speak their truth.

In this light, we are now able to look back on Nadia’s story with a renewed perspective…

 

She is the original gymnastics superstar. Her story is one of sacrifice, endurance and success despite the odds…but the truth behind her legacy is a cautionary tale guarded by 50 years of secrets…secrets uncovered through hundreds of newly-revealed Securitate files. This film will finally tell the full truth behind Nadia’s story, drawing upon exclusive access to those Securitate files and interviews with former teammates, members of her elite coaching staff and past informants.

In order to move forward, the truth must first be revealed…

The Voices

Teodora Ungureanu — Teodora was Nadia's friend and closest training partner. They spent their teenage years as roommates and teammates. They experienced their greatest athletic accomplishments together – and they both suffered from Karolyi's abuse. Both women eventually defected to the U.S.

Geza Pozsar — Nadia's longtime choreographer and the Karolyi's closest colleague. During most training sessions, Geza was the only other adult allowed in the gym; often making him the sole witness to the Karolyi's abuse. Geza was also the Securitate's number one informer. Using the code name "Nelu", Pozsar sent weekly, handwritten letters to the Securitate for years.

Mary Lou Retton — Mary Lou is the 1984 Olympic All-Around Champion and the first American protege of Bela and Martha Karolyi, following their defection. Her success solidified the Karolyi's status as elite coaches in the States and ushered in a new era of popularity for the sport.

Dominique Moceanu — Dominique is the youngest member of the "Magnificent Seven" – the 1996 Olympic gold medal-winning team. The Karolyis began training her as a young child – allegedly using many of the same abusive tactics they wielded on Nadia. Dominique later became the first official whistleblower to publicly call out the Karolyis abuse.

Simone Biles — Simone is the most decorated gymnast in the history of the sport. She was a member of the final generation of Martha Karolyis athletes and has spoken publicly about the emotional abuse she and her teammates endured. In 2018, Biles confirmed she is also a survivor in the Larry Nassar abuse scandal.

Dr. Stejarel Olaru — Olaru is a Romanian historian, former National Security Advisor and author of the book, “Nadia and the Securitate”. He has published several books on the history of the Romanian intelligence services. Olaru is one of a few people to have first-hand access to the Securitate’s secret files and has spent year’s decoding the truth behind Nadia’s success.

Iron Will: A Series

Nadia’s story of survival and eventual escape from behind the Iron Curtain is just one of many. While we feel this film has the potential to stand on its own, we are also interested in the possibility of telling it in tandem with other Iron Curtain “true crime” stories. Our research has uncovered a collection of stories that deserve to be told – stories that all share the common Cold War themes of mystery, intrigue and sacrifice.

For many young men and women pursuing their dreams inside communist regimes, the notion of sacrifice took on a far greater meaning. Those who tried to escape all sacrificed – some left their family behind, others endured bodily harm and some lost their lives. They lived the lives of spies – contending with secret police surveillance, tortuous interrogations and the constant threat of discovery.

Here are some of their stories outlined over five episodes…

  • Far from Home

    Tapped phones… kidnapping threats… loved ones left behind…

    To become the best tennis player in the world, you must compete against the best – a simple fact that became a huge hurdle for many athletes training behind the Iron Curtain. When Martina Navratilova was 18 years old, she was on the precipice of an extraordinary career, and Czech leadership became increasingly concerned with what they called her "westernization.” The communist government felt Martina was too enamored with the American way of life and in official correspondence they stated it was time to, “clip her wings.”

    Facing tightened travel restrictions, Martina knew the 1975 US Open could be her last opportunity to travel – and escape. Late in the evening, after her last match of the tournament, she slipped through a side door into the Office of Immigration in lower Manhattan. Martina thought her secret was safe until she awoke the next morning to find news of her defection flashing across the news wire.

    Fearing Czech authorities would seize her, Martina hopped in a cab and rode to the only place she felt safe – the tennis courts at Forest Hills. She hastily arranged a press conference and went public with her intentions to stay. She spent the next few days waiting for her paperwork to clear and hiding out in a friend's fourth floor walk up apartment while a team of FBI agents staked out the neighborhood and tapped her phones, listening for Czech interference.

    Back in Czechoslovakia, Martina’s family and tennis compatriots suffered the fallout from her defection. Her sister, Jana, was kicked out of the local tennis academy and ostracized in school…her parent’s phone was tapped…former teammates were no longer allowed to travel…and any mention of Martina’s tennis career was erased from the record books.

    Martina would not return home to Czechoslovakia until 1986, when she traveled to Prague as an American citizen to play the Fed Cup. Although the Czech government allowed her to participate, they tried to downplay her appearance, but her former Czech teammate, Hana Mandlikova, would not comply. Despite direct orders from the regime, Hana acknowledged Martina by name during the tournament's opening remarks, and Martina gave an emotional speech to fans who never forgot her. In that moment, Martina and Hana chipped away at the communist stranglehold and slowly progress ensued. In the following years Hana, and other Czech competitors, were allowed to travel, compete and live abroad. Martina’s sacrifice paved the way for future generations.

  • Doctor's Orders

    A secret love affair… a forced surgery… decades of cover up…

    To be an athlete in Cold War East Germany (GDR) likely meant unwitting participation in clandestine doping programs. Sinisterly described as a, “means of support,” State Plan 14.25 was a broad effort to forcefully administer anabolic steroids, hormones and amphetamines to athletes regardless of their destructive effects. And yet, for up-and-coming sprinter Ines Geipel, the state’s attempt to control her body through forced steroid use was only the beginning.

    We begin in 1984 as Ines finds herself in Mexico City training for the upcoming Olympics...and also falling in love with a Mexican athlete. In order to stay together, Geipel created a plan to defect and shared her fateful decision with a friend. Unfortunately, as was often the case in the West German culture of paranoia, her confidant was also an informant for the Ministry of State Security. The Stasi’s response was swift and cruel – Ines mysteriously fell ill with persistent stomach pains. When she underwent surgery to correct the situation, the surgeon severed her stomach muscles, destroying her ability to run competitively. Years later, her Stasi files revealed a disturbing notation in regards to the procedure, “Now we have finally found the opportunity to put her on ice.”

    Body scarred and career destroyed, Geipel finally managed to flee the GDR mere months before the Wall fell. Since defecting, Geipel has spent decades advocating for thousands of fellow athletes whose bodies and lives were decimated by the architects of the state doping program – making it her mission to reveal the secrets of the past and bring those in charge to justice.

  • If at First You Don't Succeed

    Two fried chickens… 30 tubes of Vaseline… a midnight swim across the Baltic…

    Fleeing to the West was no easy task – athletes were often under constant state surveillance, cultivating a culture of paranoia where anyone and almost everyone was an informant. The Stasi stopped at nothing to maintain a hold on their population…as a result people went to extremes to escape.

    We’ll turn to East Germany in the late ’60s and the talented young swimmer Axel Mitbauer, who enlists the aid of several West German swimmers in a bid to defect. However, when the Stasi intercept letters between Axel and his West German counterparts, his plans are derailed and he finds himself in the Stasi-run prison, Hohenschönhausen. To Axel, seven weeks of solitary confinement and tortuous interrogations paled in comparison to the ultimate punishment – an immediate ban from all sports and sports facilities for life. Now branded a dissident by the state, he knew he had to try again at the next opportunity.

    As it turned out, Axel’s training as a swimmer would be crucial to his escape – his best option was the Baltic Sea…and a treacherous 25-kilometer swim to freedom. But, in order to successfully cross, Axel would have to contend with both border guards constantly patrolling the shore and the frigid water. Mitbauer studied the guards for days and found out that their searchlights had to be routinely turned off once an hour to cool down, providing him with a chance to reach the water’s edge undetected.

    He ate two “Goldbroiler” fried chickens for strength, slathered himself with 30 tubes worth of Vaseline to protect himself from the numbing water and anxiously waited for the lights to go off before diving into the dark ocean. After four treacherous hours, Axel found himself clinging to a buoy, mere kilometers from the West German shore. As daylight broke, Mitbalmer was finally rescued by a local ferry. Mitbauer had completed the swim of his life – an act of defiance that would rewrite his future.

  • Gone in a Flash

    Poisoning… blinding headlights… a deadly car crash…

    A successful defection was no guarantee of safety – intelligence services and secret police committed reprisals against defectors from behind the Iron Curtain. Emerging East German footballer Lutz Eigendorf was no exception to this treatment.

    Eigendorf’s defection in 1979 was a slap in the face to both the East German regime and his former club, BFC Dynamo. The popular football club was under the patronage of the Stasi and its chief, Erich Mielke. Stasi files reveal that at the behest of Mielke more than 50 operatives were dedicated to tracking Eigendorf’s every move after his escape – the Stasi continued to target him for four years until his untimely death in 1983.

    While driving home from a round of post-match drinks, Eigendorf was blinded by an oncoming truck’s lights and crashed his car, sustaining fatal chest and head injuries. Immediately suspicions arose concerning the circumstances of his death. His blood alcohol content was inconsistent with the amount of alcohol witnesses claim he consumed, yet an autopsy was never conducted.

    Most Stasi documents relating to Eigendorf’s final days were destroyed, but surviving ones point to the very real possibility that his death was intentional. These documents propose methods of “personal endangerment”: kidnapping, poisoning and even “flashing”, a well-practiced Stasi technique where a vehicle hidden in the dark suddenly illuminates its headlights to blind an oncoming driver. Eigendorf’s biographer contends this is exactly how Lutz died…he was seized leaving the bar, forced to drink large amounts of alcohol and then released to drunkenly drive home whereupon he was fatally blinded.

    Investigations into Lutz’s death continuously hit a dead end [pun intended], but the message sent was clear…just because you are free, doesn’t mean you are safe.

    Subsequent West German investigations proved fruitless and the questions surrounding Eigendorf’s death persist to this day.

  • Grounded

    An international incident… trapped on the tarmac for days… a Hollywood ending…

    In the constant ideological war between East and West, athletes and artists served as “combatants'' for the state. Dance, like athletics, was a primary form of cultural exchange. In the Soviet Union, being a member of the Bolshoi Ballet was a premier artistic achievement, yet even the most accomplished dancers coveted Western freedom.

    The Soviet Union was embarrassed by a string of high-profile dance defections in the 1970s – first, Natalia Makarova in 1970, then Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1974 and finally Alexander Godunov who followed in his friends’ footsteps in 1979.

    Godunov was a larger-than-life figure in communist Moscow, and by all reports, infatuated with Western culture. Standing well over six feet tall and often dressed in American blue jeans, he loved to hold court at parties – showing off his newly-learned English and American dance moves, much to the chagrin of his somewhat demure wife, fellow dancer, Lyudmila Vlasova.

    Godunov danced for years with the Bolshoi Ballet, eventually becoming Premier danseur, but he found the Soviet atmosphere restrictive. He continued to entertain desires to defect to America despite his wife’s apprehensions. He even went so far as to ask a visiting journalist for advice – having secret conversations knee-to-knee in his apartment bathroom, all the while constantly flushing the toilet to evade KGB bugs in his apartment.

    In 1979, after a final performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, Godunov made his move, requesting asylum. Vlasova, hesitant to go, remained behind with their dance troupe. The KGB moved swiftly, coercing her to board a Moscow-bound plane at JFK, but American authorities intercepted the airliner before takeoff, prompting a diplomatic stalemate on the tarmac. State Department documents chronicle three days of negotiations involving all levels of government officials – from then junior Senator Joe Biden, all the way to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and President Carter — before the Aeroflot flight was eventually allowed to take off for Russia.

    Godunov never returned to the Soviet Union and he and Vlasova divorced not long thereafter. Godunov fully embraced American celebrity, dancing with the American Ballet before moving to Hollywood to act in films like Witness and Die Hard and dating actress Jacqueline Bissett.

The Creators

Katie Walsh — Katie Walsh is a Peabody and 4-time Emmy-award winning director and producer with a focus on women’s sports stories. Katie spent two years documenting Simone Biles journey to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics in a seven-part series titled, Simone vs Herself. She had exclusive access to Simone and her family after Simone withdrew from the Olympics to prioritize her mental health. Katie directed the first film about the survivors in the Larry Nassar abuse case; the film headlined the 2018 ESPY Awards and won a Peabody Award for outstanding journalism. Katie’s work has also been featured on ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, HBO, Disney+, NBC and ABC. She has profiled athletes for two Super Bowls and five Olympic Games.

Jessica O’Beirne — Jessica is the founder of GymCastic, the No. 1 gymnastics podcast in the world, which during the 2020 Olympic Games was ranked among the top 25 of all sports podcasts by Apple Podcasts. Jessica was the first to uncover a lawsuit against USA Gymnastics national team doctor Larry Nassar, and passed the information to The Indianapolis Star, which then ran a groundbreaking exposé that ended by unmasking Nassar as the biggest pedophile in the history of sports. Jessica was called “the most influential voice in gymnastics journalism” by Vanity Fair. She has written for the Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post and International Gymnast Magazine. Her expertise has been quoted in every media outlet from NPR to The New York Times, and ESPN.

Adam Castaldo — Adam Castaldo is an Emmy-nominated producer and editor with a focus on documentary filmmaking. He recently collaborated on the film God Forbid; the most watched documentary in Hulu’s history. Adam’s work has also been featured on CBS Sports, HBO, Showtime, ESPN, and TIME.