Nadia Comaneci, one of the most famous gymnasts of all time, plans to stand for election to the board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
A Romanian Olympic Committee (COR) meeting unanimously approved Comaneci's candidacy today after COR president Ion Tiriac twice failed in his bid for membership of the Olympic movement's top governing body in the past two years.
"Nadia will be Romania's best representative in the IOC," Tiriac told reporters.
Comaneci is famed for scoring the first "perfect ten" in gymnastics during the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where she won two gold medals.
The 40-year-old said: "I'm honoured and touched by the news.
"It would be one of the greatest performances of my sporting life to be elected as an IOC member."
The next IOC board elections are likely to be held in 2003.
Comaneci was named athlete of the century at the 1999 World Sports Awards ceremony in Vienna. She fled Romania for the United States in 1989, where she now runs a gymnastics coaching centre.