Nadia Comaneci and Caitlyn Jenner (then Bruce) were both gold medal winners at the 1976 Olympics but they never met in Montreal. It took the Golden Globes to align the planets or at least the (Olympic) stars.

Since January 2013, the Golden Globes has invited some of the world’s greatest Olympians to share the  awards-ceremony’s red carpet with many of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Julia Roberts, Taylor Swift and Reese Witherspoon are among the many who were starstruck with admiration when they met gold medal winners like Greg Louganis, Missy Franklin, Gabby Douglas and Jackie Joyner Kersee.

Now as the world prepares to send its best athletes to the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro, the Golden Globes has gotten an early jump on the celebrations by interviewing two icons of the 1976 Montreal Games who are celebrating the 40th  anniversary of their world-record breaking Gold Medal performances – Nadia Comaneci and Caitlyn Jenner. Comaneci was the first competitor to ever score a perfect 10 in gymnastics and Jenner’s decathlon win earned him the title of “world’s greatest athlete.”

The two participated in a Globes press conference on the same day: Jenner for her reality show I Am Cait and Comaneci for her book and documentary. However, neither had been aware of the other athlete’s presence that day. We made sure they met each other afterwards to reminisce about their Olympic accomplishments and take a historic photo (better late than never!). The two had never crossed paths in Montreal. Gymnastics start the games, and Comaneci had to leave with her Romanian teammates after their events were over; Jenner’s gold came on the second to last day of the Games. But 40 years later, the timing was perfect.