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Thunderbird Theme Of the Week - Mary Lou Retton
Thunderbird Theme Of the Week - Mary Lou Retton
Posted: Mar 08, 2025

Thunderbird Theme Of the Week - Mary Lou Retton

"Rather than focusing on the obstacle in your path, focus on the bridge over the obstacle" – Mary Lou Retton 

At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, Mary Lou Retton won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Retton's performance made her one of the most popular athletes in the United States.  Her gold medal win was historic as Retton was the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal in Olympic gymnastics

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.  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.  Retton won the all-around gold medal by 0.05 points, beating Szabo to become 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."

  • 1992 - Elected to the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame in 1992. 
  • 1993 - The Associated Press released results of a sports study in which Retton was statistically tied for first place with fellow Olympian Dorothy Hamill as the most popular athlete in America. 
  • 1997 - Inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. 
  • 2020 - First woman inducted into the Houston Sports Hall of Fame.