American gymnast Mary Lou Retton retired in 2004. She took home two silver, two bronze, and a gold medal in the individual all-around category at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Thanks to her achievement, Retton became one of the most well-liked athletes in the country.
Retton’s gold medal victory was significant because it made history as the first American woman to win the gymnastics Olympic all-around title. In Fairmont, West Virginia, on January 24, 1968, Mary Lou Retton was born.
Ronnie, her father, founded a company that sold transportation equipment to the coal sector. She went to Fairmont Senior High School, but she did not receive her diploma. She participated in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, while she was a sophomore in high school. Here are latest update about her health.
Mary Lou Retton Illness
The daughter of American gymnast Mary Lou Retton, who rose to fame in athletics after winning gold at the 1984 Olympics, described her mother’s illness as a “scary setback” while she battles a severe form of pneumonia.
One of Retton’s four children, Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, revealed on Instagram on Wednesday that the Olympian experienced the setback following consistent progress earlier in the week.
“At the beginning of this week, we were going on the up and up. We were so excited, seeing so much progress, and then yesterday we had a pretty scary setback,” according to Schrepfer. “She is still in ICU and we’re just working through some things as far as the setback goes.”
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Retton had a “better day” on Wednesday, according to Schrepfer, but she is “really exhausted” from everything she has been through. Retton, 55, was originally unable to breathe on her own and has been in the intensive care unit for more than a week, according to a fundraising page set up for her.
Her family claims that Retton is uninsured. Retton’s children have previously stated that their mother is facing a “scarce” kind of pneumonia, but they have not disclosed any other specifics of her disease.
Retton’s fundraising page has raised nearly $450,000 as of Thursday morning, much more than its initial $50,000 target. Schrepfer also expressed gratitude in her message to those who had sent money and prayed for her mother.
“Once again, I appreciate your support,” Schrepfer remarked. “I’m getting so many messages and emails and it’s so great to see people love on her.” The National Institutes of Health states that pneumonia is an infection that results in fluid buildup in the lung’s air sacs.
Who is Mary Lou Retton?
American gymnast Mary Lou Retton is well-known for her outstanding accomplishments in the sport. She is now retired from the sport. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she created history by winning a gold medal in the individual all-around gymnastics competition.
This remarkable feat made her the first female American to win an Olympic gymnastics gold medal. She became one of the most adored and renowned athletes in the United States as a result of this incredible achievement, which was matched by her two silver and two bronze medals from the same Olympics.
In addition to leaving a lasting impression on gymnastics, Retton’s incredible accomplishments inspired young athletes by demonstrating the fantastic skill and perseverance needed to achieve the highest levels of physical achievement. Her legacy lives on as a tribute to the grace, courage, and spirit of competition that shaped her career and cemented her place in American sports history.
Mary Lou Retton Career
Throughout her remarkable gymnastics career, Mary Lou Retton demonstrated perseverance, passion, and a pioneering spirit. When she was barely eight years old, she was inspired to take up the sport by watching Nadia Comăneci’s performance on television during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
She started gymnastics training in her hometown of Fairmont, West Virginia, under the direction of coach Gary Rafaloski. Retton took the decisive step of relocating to Houston, Texas, to train under the famous Romanian trainers Béla and Márta Károlyi, who had previously guided Nadia Comăneci in her pursuit of perfection.
She rose quickly in the American gymnastics scene under the guidance of the Károlyis. Among her accomplishments were taking home the American Cup and placing second in the US Nationals in 1983.
Despite missing the 1983 World Gymnastics Championships due to a wrist injury, she went on to win the Chunichi Cup in Japan in 1983 as well as the American Classic in 1983 and 1984. Retton’s quest for an Olympic medal in 1984 came to a disastrous stop when she hurt her knee in a floor routine.
Against all odds, she had a successful surgery and recovered in time for the first Olympics to be staged in the United States since more than 50 years ago, in Los Angeles. Her performance at the Summer Olympics in 1984 was quite remarkable.
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After trailing by just 0.15 points after uneven bars and balancing beam, Retton, who was competing against Romania’s Ecaterina Szabo for the all-around gold, made an incredible comeback. She narrowly missed out on winning the individual all-around gold medal by 0.05 points after scoring perfect 10s on the floor exercise and vault.
By completing this, Mary Lou Retton became the first American woman to win an Olympic all-around gold medal, as well as the first female gymnast from outside of Eastern Europe to receive this honor.
Beyond winning gold in the all-around competition, Retton’s 1984 Olympic achievements included silver in the team competition, bronze in the horse vault, and gold in the floor exercise and uneven bars.
She was named “Sportswoman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated Magazine for her outstanding performance, and she was featured on the front of a Wheaties cereal box, serving as the company’s first official spokesperson. Her position as a gymnastics incredible was cemented in 1985 when she won the American Cup all-around competition for the third time.
Retton decided to give up competitive gymnastics in 1986, but not before making a lasting impact on the sport and motivating countless numbers of athletes with her incredible accomplishments and unwavering will. Here is an Instagram post given below related her championship:
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