1968-present
Latest News: Gymnastics Great Mary Lou Retton Released from Hospital
Mary Lou Retton’s daughter revealed Monday that the decorated former gymnast is out of the hospital as she continues to recover from a rare form of pneumonia that forced her into intensive care. McKenna Lane Kelley shared in an Instagram post that her mother is back home. “We still have a long road of recovery ahead of us, but baby steps,” Kelley wrote. “We are overwhelmed with the love and support from everyone.”
It’s unclear when Retton was initially hospitalized or released. On October 10, Kelley revealed the 1984 Olympic gold medalist was “fighting for her life,” having spent more than a week in the ICU and unable to breathe on her own. Four days later, Kelly said her mother had made significant progress. However, Retton experienced a setback soon after and returned to intensive care.
Retton’s family members asked for donations on a crowdfunding site to help offset her medical bills, saying she doesn’t have health insurance. As of October 24, they had received nearly $460,000.
Who Is Mary Lou Retton?
Retired Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton trained with acclaimed Romanian coach Béla Károlyi and first rose to prominence with victories at the 1983 American Cup and the following year’s U.S. Nationals. At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Retton won a gold medal in the women’s all-around gymnastics competition—including a perfect score on the vault. It was the first time a female gymnast outside Eastern Europe won the event. Retton became known as “America’s Sweetheart” and was named Sports Illustrated’s Sportswoman of the Year after winning five Olympic medals total. She retired from gymnastics in 1986 but continued her involvement with the sport as a commentator and has become an in-demand spokesperson and motivational speaker.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Mary Lou Retton
BORN: January 24, 1968
BIRTHPLACE: Fairmont, West Virginia
SPOUSE: Shannon Kelley (1990-2018)
CHILDREN: Shayla, McKenna, Skyla, and Emma
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Aquarius
Early Life
Mary Lou Retton was born on January 24, 1968, in Fairmont, West Virginia, to parents Ronnie and Lois Retton. Her father was a star athlete who led the West Virginia University basketball team to the 1959 NCAA final and began a career in professional baseball. Afterward, he owned a coal-mining equipment company. Mary Lou is the youngest of five siblings, including brothers Ronnie Jr., Donnie, and Jerry, and her older sister, Shari.
As a young girl, Retton developed a love of gymnastics after watching Romanian prodigy Nadia Comaneci record seven perfect scores and win three gold medals at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. She learned acrobatics at a dance studio and trained with a local coach, but her family decided she would need more specialized instruction to reach her full potential.
Retton moved to Houston in the early 1980s to train with Comaneci’s acclaimed Romanian coach Béla Károlyi. Under his direction, she developed a style to suit her strong yet compact frame, winning several prestigious competitions, including the 1983 American Cup and the 1984 U.S. Nationals.
Gymnastics Career and 1984 Olympics
Retton was considered one of the top competitors going into the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles but overcame an unexpected health crisis just to make it there. Six weeks before the competition, she completed an exhibition routine at a camp in Louisville, Kentucky. Shortly after, her knee locked up due to a piece of cartilage that had broken off, and doctors determined she needed to have arthroscopic knee surgery. Within three days, she underwent the procedure and resumed training. “We did three months of rehabilitation in two weeks,” Retton told the Los Angeles Times. “In gymnastics, we’re vaulting, we’re 10 and 11 feet up in the air, we’re coming down on our legs. I mean, to get back into that kind of shape that fast is just unheard of.”
Still, Retton not only edged Romania’s Ecaterina Szabo for the gold medal in the women’s all-around by earning a perfect score of 10 in the vault—the final event of the competition—but also won two silver and two bronze medals in individual and team competitions. It was the first time a woman outside Eastern Europe won the women’s Olympic all-around title.
Retton’s wholesome exuberance won her many commercial endorsements, including an appearance on the front of a Wheaties cereal box. She attended a celebratory breakfast with President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, for U.S. medal winners, and fans embraced her as “America’s Sweetheart.”
Retton won her third straight American Cup title in 1985 but decided to retire from the sport only a year later at age 18. She cited a desire to focus on her education as a student at the University of Texas. Retton was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997.
Ex-Husband and Children
Retton married Shannon Kelley, who played quarterback for the University of Texas football team, in 1990. The couple welcomed four daughters: Shayla in 1995, McKenna in 1997, Skyla in 2000, and Emma in 2002. Emma is currently on the University of Arkansas gymnastics team, while McKenna competed collegiately for Louisiana State University.
Retton and Kelley divorced in 2018. Also that year, she competed on Season 27 of the popular ABC reality competition Dancing with the Stars.
She currently resides in Houston.
Net Worth
Thanks to her athletic success, as well as the many endorsement offers and public speaking engagements it helped create, Retton is estimated to have a net worth of $2 million as of October 2023 according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Health Problems and 2023 Hospitalization
After retiring and becoming a mother, Retton experienced hip pain that became progressively worse. “One of the big red flags was when I literally can’t get on the floor to play Barbies or dolls with my children,” she later explained. “That’s a big red flag. I’m just a bystander.”
Retton was eventually diagnosed with hip dysplasia, meaning her hip joint abnormally developed from birth. This, coupled with the myriad vaults and handsprings she performed over the course of her career, had caused her hip to deteriorate into end-stage arthritis. In 2005, she had a total hip replacement.
In 2016, Retton revealed she had undergone 19 surgical procedures, including back surgery prompted by a degenerative bone disorder.
In October 2023, her daughter McKenna revealed that Retton was hospitalized in the intensive care unit with a rare form of pneumonia and unable to breathe on her own. She started a crowdfunding page to assist with Retton’s medical bills. Despite experiencing a setback that briefly landed her back in the ICU, Retton had returned home by October 23, according to McKenna.
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