The multiple Olympic, world and European champion in gymnastics will have her signature printed on the medals received by the participants in the 42 kilometer race from Timișoara.
In a press release from the organizers it was specified: “Nadia Comăneci becomes the UVT Liberty Marathon 2026 ambassador, 50 years after she wrote history with <
As every year, the medal offered to the runners at the end bears the signature of a great Romanian Olympic champion, “turning it into a symbol of courage, perseverance and performance”, at Liberty Marathon 2026 it will be Nadia Comăneca’s turn.
Nadia is part of a club of champions
The signature of the “Montreal Goddess” thus joins those of other emblematic names of Romanian sports such as Constantina Diță, Simona Amânar, Camelia Potec, Andreea Răducan, Mihai Covaliu, Ana-Maria Brânză, Gabriela Szabo and Alina Dumitru.
Present at the UVT Liberty Marathon 2026 ambassador announcement event, Nadia said: “A champion becomes a champion when he manages to navigate a competition on a bad day, because if everything is perfect and everything goes well, it’s much easier. It’s good to try to control only what you can control, but also to have plan B and plan C, when everything doesn’t go right. I’ve always thought about what I can offer, what I know I’ve prepared for training, I tried not to think about the pressure from the outside. Even if you sometimes feel that you can’t, the desire to test your limits is real and you realize that you can do more. Perfection is a status that a champion wants to achieve through his own powers, it is precisely the discovery of that talent, or the identification of some performative details at first sight A champion is not afraid, even if he can sometimes have emotions. The fact that I can inspire others through my results means that I have achieved a goal. Congratulations to UVT, I am extremely happy to be present as UVT’s ambassador, Marilen Pirtea, and to Mihai Covaliu, the president of COSR.”
Covaliu: “Nadia is appreciated all over the world”
The appointment of Nadia Comăneci as the UVT Liberty Marathon ambassador was also welcomed by Mihai Covaliu, the president of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee, partner of the Western University of Timișoara: “2026 is a special year, a year in which we celebrate the anniversary of a huge athlete, a planetary athlete, as we told her, because Nadia is not only known and appreciated in Romania, but all over the world. This year was dedicated entirely to her, for that we are celebrating 50 years since that moment that changed the history of sports worldwide, and I say this because she is the first athlete in the world who, through an exercise, through her evolution at the Olympic Games, achieved that perfect score that the scoreboard was not ready to show, and since then Nadia marked the moment when an athlete reached the maximum score, the perfect score, which entered history. Here, after 50 years, we are at the moment which we can enjoy together because an athlete from Romania, Nadia Comăneci, was that athlete who changed history, in world sports. COSR enjoys the partnership with UVT, a partnership close to our soul, because at UVT there are people who love sport, who organize this marathon every year. It is an honor and a joy for us to be partners and to be able to bring athletes and great performers of Romania to be ambassadors of UVT Liberty Marathon, as it is this year honorable, when Nadia Comăneci is the ambassador of this event, which I am convinced will be very successful.”
Gică Hagi, moving eulogy to Nadia Comăneca. The gymnastics legend receives the highest award today, in Cotroceni
There will be races for all ages
The rector of UVT, university professor Dr. Marilen Gabriel Pirtea, stated that the 2026 edition of the marathon bears the name of the most important Romanian sportswoman, well-known on all continents: “In an anniversary year, 50 years since the legendary ten appeared symbolized on the sign in Montreal, Nadia Comăneci is the ambassador of the 2026 edition of the UVT Liberty Marathon. We are organizing the ninth edition of the freedom marathon in Timisoara and, as in every year, we appoint an Olympic champion, together with COSR, as the ambassador of the competition. This year, Nadia Comăneci will sign the marathon medal and put a signature on the diplomas and insignia of the more than five thousand participants in the UVT Liberty Marathon. As we say every time, it will be a celebration of freedom, sport, fair play, ambition, work, perseverance and, in the end, even fun. Beyond the sport itself, beyond running the marathon route in Timișoara, there are many other messages that we convey, related to social involvement, liberation, overcoming the limits, with which we teach the students at UVT, to become good citizens of the country and the cities in which they will live.”
Nadia Comăneci was decorated by Nicușor Dan: “When someone told me “you can’t”, I found a way!”. The emotional speech of the head of state
The UVT Liberty Marathon will take place on October 3 and 4, 2026, in Timișoara. In the program there will be accessible trials for any training level, from 2 to 42 km.
