Mary Lou Retton

Mary Lou Retton was born on January 24, 1968, in Fairmont, West Virginia. (The original family name was "Rotunda.")[6] Her father, Ronnie, operated a coal-industry transportation equipment business. She attended Fairmont Senior High School, but did not graduate.[7] She competed in the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles, California, during her sophomore year of high school.[8]

Retton lived in Houston, Texas,[9] until 2009, when her family returned to West Virginia and again moved back to Houston in 2012. She was married to former University of Texas quarterback and Houston real estate developer Shannon Kelley, who now works for the Houston Baptist University athletic department.[10] Together they have four daughters: Shayla (b. 1995), McKenna (b. 1997), a former NCAA gymnast at Louisiana State University, Skyla (b. 2000), and Emma (b. 2002).[11]

Retton divorced her husband in February 2018.[12]

Retton was inspired by watching Nadia Comăneci outshine defending Olympic two-event winner Olga Korbut on television at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, when she herself was eight years of age, and she took up gymnastics in her hometown of Fairmont. She was coached by Gary Rafaloski. She then decided to move to Houston, Texas, to train under Romanians Béla and Márta Károlyi, who had coached Nadia Comăneci before their defection to the United States. Under the Károlyis, Retton soon began to make a name for herself in the U.S., winning the American Cup in 1983 and placing second to Dianne Durham (another Károlyi student) at the US Nationals that same year. Though Retton missed the World Gymnastics Championships in 1983 due to a wrist injury, she won the American Classic in 1983 and 1984, as well as Japan's Chunichi Cup in 1983.

After winning her second American Cup, the U.S. Nationals, and the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1984, Retton suffered a knee injury when she was performing a floor routine at a local gymnastics center at this time. She had sat down to sign autographs when she felt her knee lock, forcing her to undergo an operation five weeks prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics, which were going to be held in Los Angeles—the first time the Summer Olympics had been held in the United States in 52 years.[13] She recovered just in time for this most prestigious of tournaments, and in the competition, which was boycotted by the Soviet bloc nations except for Romania, Retton was engaged in a close battle with Ecaterina Szabo of Romania for the all-around gold medal. Trailing Szabo (after uneven bars and balance beam) by 0.15 with two events to go, Retton scored perfect 10s on floor exercise and vault—the last event in an especially dramatic fashion, as there had been fears that her knee injury and the subsequent surgery might impair her performance.[14] Retton won the all-around gold medal by 0.05 points, beating Szabo and becoming the first American to receive the all-around gold medal. She also became the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the individual all-around gold.

At the same Olympics, Retton won four additional medals: silver in the team competition and the horse vault, and bronze in the floor exercise and uneven bars. For her performance, she was named Sports Illustrated Magazine's "Sportswoman of the Year." She appeared on a Wheaties box, and became the cereal's first official spokeswoman.

In 1985, Retton won the American Cup all-around competition for the third and final time.[15] She retired in 1986.

Retton on a 1988 Paraguayan stamp

• 1982: 1/25/82 "Little House On The Prairie" "The Legacy". [Seen as woman sitting in front row of auction in white blouse. Sitting next to the lady in the red blouse who is bidding]
• 1985: ABC Funfit; hosted a series of five-minute segments on physical fitness which were broadcast between Saturday morning cartoons.[31]
• 1988: Scrooged; as herself.[32]
• 1992: Knots Landing; as herself in the episode "Letting Go".[33]
• 1993: Baywatch; in the episode "The Child Inside".[34]
• 1994: An Evening at the Improv; as herself.[35]
• 2002: Mary Lou's Flip Flop Shop.[36]
• 2010: Glee; in the episode "Grilled Cheesus" Sue Sylvester refers to Mary Lou Retton as her worst enemy.[37]
• 2014: RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial "The '80s Called"; cameo appearance.[38]
• 2018: Appeared as a contestant on 27th season of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with Sasha Farber. Eliminated Week 6 - 9th Place[39]

Retton was born with hip dysplasia, a condition that her years as a competitive gymnast aggravated. After experiencing increased pain from the condition, she underwent hip replacement surgery on her left hip in her middle thirties.

Retton's routine on the uneven bars included a move that came to be called "The Retton Flip." This consisted of a transition (front flip) from low- to high-bar, resulting in the gymnast perched or "sitting" on top of the high bar. This move, and many others like it, were removed from the Code of Points of artistic gymnastics due to old-style "belly beat" moves having ceased to be used in bars competitions.

• List of Olympic female gymnasts for the United States
• List of Olympic medal leaders in women's gymnastics

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mary Lou Retton.

• Official website
• Where Are They Now?: Mary Lou Retton Photos & Info
• Mary Lou RETTON at the International Gymnastics Federation
• Mary Lou Retton on IMDb
• List of competitive results at Gymn Forum
• Mary Lou Retton 2007 Interview with Béla Károlyi on Sidewalks Entertainment
• The "Retton Flip"