Though it was not her first time returning to the city where she made Olympic history 40 years ago, Nadia Comaneci said she still has great affection for Montreal.

"I'm very surprised but I'm honoured at the same time because I understand what a big deal somebody has to be or what an impact somebody has to have on somebody's life to be remembered," she said.

The Romanian former gymnast was in town on Thursday to tour an exhibit devoted to the 1976 Olympics, where she scored seven perfect 10 scores.

"The ten is very emotional every time, because it feels like it's been in a different lifetime when I watch me when I was 14," she said. "When I was 14, I had no pressure, because I was a kid and I didn't understand all the attention."

That was Comaneci's age when she became the first Olympian to ever record at least one perfect score. The accomplishment was so unheard of, her score registered as a 1.00 on the scoreboard, which only had one digit to the left of the decimal point. She would leave the Games with five medals, three of which were gold.

With the Rio Games less than a month away, she finds herself a bit envious of today's gymnasts.

"The equipment is much different, it's much better," she said. "It allows the gymnast to do a lot more difficult tricks. I wish I was 14, to try those things again."

Comaneci was accompanied by her husband, American fellow Olympic gymnast Bart Conner, and their 10-year-old son Dylan. Conner and Comaneci will be travelling to Rio de Janeiro to attend the upcoming Summer Games, but she avoided commenting on the numerous doping scandals that have rocked the Olympic community, including the banning of the entire Russian track and field team.

She was more eager to address a legacy in Montreal that saw many new mothers naming their daughters Nadia in the immediate aftermath of her triumph here.

"I see the name tags when I go somewhere and I say 'Your name is Nadia?' (and they say) 'Well, I was named after the gymnast,'" she said. "I'm very happy that I had a chance to motivate kids to do gymnastics and in general to play sports."