After four days of hiding out in Europe, Olympic gold medalist Nadia Comaneci spent her first full day of freedom Saturday doing the same thing in the United States.
The 28-year-old Romanian gymnast, who burst into prominence with her run of perfect 10s in the 1976 Olympics, slipped out of sight Friday following a brief news conference shortly after her arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport."I wanted to have a free life," said Comaneci, who was guaranteed political asylum here, and on Saturday that included staying out of the limelight generated by her defection.
Comaneci reportedly spent Friday night in New York, but there were varying reports about her whereabouts Saturday.
United States Gymnastics Federation spokeswoman Patti Auer said the State Department told a federation official that Comaneci was headed to Miami on Saturday afternoon on a Pan Am flight.
But the captain of the flight Comaneci was scheduled to take said she had canceled her plans.
"Nadia was to be with us on our flight, but ... she decided to stay in New York," said pilot Conrad Gosheff. "At the last minute, they said she's not coming."
Pan Am spokeswoman Suzanne Timper said the airline - which carried Comaneci into the United States from Vienna - had no reservations out of JFK under the gymnast's name. Reporters at JFK when the Miami-bound flight was due to board did not see her and Port Authority police, who patrol the sprawling airport, said they weren't aware of her plans.
Auer said Comaneci "has not contacted us, and we'd like to know what her plans are."
State Department press officer Sondra McCarty said her agency was not providing any information on Comaneci.
In addition to the report that Comaneci was heading to Miami, there were reports after her arrival here that she might go to Indianapolis, Houston or Orlando, Fla.
Indianapolis is where the U.S. Gymnastics Federation is based, while Comaneci's former Romanian coach, Bela Karoly, now is a U.S. citizen and runs an elite gymnastics training camp north of Houston.
Comaneci was 14 years old when she gained worldwide fame by becoming the first gymnast ever to score a perfect 10 at the Olympics - an achievement she repeated seven times at the 1976 games.
She won 21 gold medals altogether in Olympic and other international meets during her career, earning a life of relative privilege in her hard-line Communist homeland.