Mary Lou Retton

Mary Lou Retton is an American gymnast who participated in the 1984 Olympics. (Lewis). Since Mary Lou was a young child, she displayed her dedication and passion towards gymnastics that proved that she would one day be successful in this great sport. Mary Lou is known to be the first female gymnast outside of Eastern Europe to win the all around gold medal. She has more medals than any athlete during the 1984 Olympics (“Mary Lou Retton Biography.”) She says that her gymnastics role model was Nadia Comaneci, who also scored a perfect ten on the vault. Retton claimed that she admired Comaneci’s hard work and dedication she showed towards gymnastics (“Mary LouRetton.”) Retton was born on January 24, 1968 in Fairmont, West Virginia. Her parents were Ronnie and Lois Retton. They were very supportive of her gymnastics career from the time she began, to the day she retired (“Mary Lou Retton Biography.”) She was born into a family of 7, being the youngest of five children (Lewis.) Mary Lou Retton wasn’t always a gymnast. She started dance classes at the young age of four. Once she grew a little older, she joined her sisters in gym classes at the age of seven (Lewis.) She was very dedicated to gym from a very young age. At twelve years old, she moved to Houston, away from her family, for training with her Romanian coach, Bela Karolyi (Lewis.) Bela Karolyi was her coach from a young age and was still by her side during the Olympics. As a young teen, Retton earned several titles. Retton won many regional and national gymnastic awards. She won three American cup titles that also earned a name for the famous team USA (“Mary Lou Retton Biography.”) The Olympics was held in Los Angeles, California the year Mary Lou won (Info Please.) Mary Lou was neck and neck with a Romanian competitor for all around gold medal since the start. They were very close for the all around gold. There was a .189 break in between them. (“Mary Lou Retton- Olympic Gold.”) Retton