Mary Lou Retton
Early Years
In north-central West Virginia lies the small City of Fairmont, with a population of approximately 18,000. The city is most known, if only locally, for being the home of the pepperoni roll and the hometown of Olympic gold medalist, Mary Lou Retton.
Retton was born in Fairmont on January 24, 1968, with a condition known as hip dysplasia. She was raised in Fairmont and attended Fairmont Senior High School, but did not graduate. She took an interest in gymnastics at a young age. When Mary Lou was eight years old, she was inspired by watching Romanian gymnast, Nadia Comăneci, outshine Belarusian, Olga Korbut, on television during the 1972 Olympics. It was then that Retton became involved in gymnastics herself, and was coached by a man named Gary Rafaloski at the Aerial-Port Gymnastics Center in Fairmont.
Career
After six years of coaching under Rafaloski, Retton felt as if she had learned and progressed all that she could in Fairmont. In 1983 she moved to Houston Texas, to train with Romanian gymnastics coach, Bela Karolyi, and his wife Marta Karolyi. The Karolyis are credited with helping Retton develop a style that supported her compact, muscular frame. 1983 was quite the year for Retton, as she won the American Cup and placed second at the U.S. Nationals. She also won the American Classic and Japan’s Chunichi Cup. However, a wrist injury prevented her from participating in the World Gymnastics Championships that year.
As successful as Mary Lou Retton was in 1983, 1984 had much more in store for the 16-year-old West Virginia native. Retton went on to win her second American Cup as well as winning the U.S. Nationals and U.S. Olympic trials. The stage was now set for Mary Lou Retton to compete in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. However, Retton would suffer a knee injury and require surgery only five weeks before the Olympics. She would recover just in time, however. Although there were fears that the knee injury may hinder her performance, she would not disappoint. Retton would find herself engaged in a close battle with Romanian, Ecaterina Szabo, for the all-around gold medal. Trailing Szabo by 0.15 points with two events to go, Retton would score back-to-back perfect 10s on floor exercise and vault, thus beating Szabo by 0.05 points and winning the gold. This feat would make Retton the first female gymnast outside of Eastern Europe to win the individual all-around gold. It would also make her the first American woman to be an all-around Olympic champion.
In addition to the gold medal, Retton also won two silver and two bronze medals at the same Olympics. Mary Lou Retton’s success would bring fame her way, and she became the first female athlete to ever appear on a Wheaties cereal box, as well as being named the cereal’s first official spokeswoman. She was also named Sports Illustrated Magazine’s first “Sportswoman of the Year”.
Retirement and beyond
Retton won an unprecedented third American Cup in 1984, and she retired In 1985.
After retiring, Retton would go on to have many paid endorsements, as well as movie and television appearances. Her hometown of Fairmont named a park and a street after her.
In 2023 Mary Lou was hospitalized in an intensive care unit due to a rare type of pneumonia. She has since been recovering at home.
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