Nearly 40 years since she barreled into history, America still loves Mary Lou Retton

As the news that Mary Lou Retton is “fighting for her life” swept across social media Tuesday, sending tens of thousands to rally virtually to her side, there was an undeniable and uplifting sense that we had all been here before. 

Of course we had. This is Mary Lou Retton, and this is us, and there’s something very reassuring in knowing that this nation loves her just as much today as it did nearly 40 years ago, when an ever-smiling 16-year-old tomboy, a tiny fullback in a gymnast’s leotard, barreled toward the vault at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, flew into the air and landed in every American living room. 

Forty years of adoration is a lot of years and a lot of love. I have been fortunate to witness it all as a journalist, to interview and catch up with Mary Lou on the phone, at social events, at subsequent Olympics. But it all goes back to those early days in 1984, summed up so succinctly and presciently by a copy of Sports Illustrated I pulled out of a cabinet Wednesday morning, one of my many mementos from the L.A. Olympics, which were my first.

On the cover of the August 13, 1984 issue is a photo of a jubilant young athlete in red, white and blue, fists clenched, arms raised in triumph, with the headline: “Only you, Mary Lou!”

She was lovable from the get-go. We actually met before the L.A. Games. I looked it up in my diary: it was June 3, 1984, the morning after she qualified for the U.S. Olympic team at the gymnastics trials in Jacksonville. I was with the Miami Herald then, and photographer Bill Frakes and I drove to the motel where Mary Lou and her family were staying. The press availability that we were expecting ended up being a family affair: just Bill, me and the Rettons, all sitting on chaise lounges by the pool in Florida, far from their Fairmont, West Virginia, home.

Mary Lou told me she wished she was taller. She was 4-9. “I wish I was 5 feet tall,” she said. “That would be perfect.” 

Her parents used to tell her they were going to give her hormone shots to help her grow but never did. So short jokes became a big part of her young life. Her favorite: “Stand up, Mary Lou,” when she already was. 

Her father, Ronnie, a veritable giant at 5-7, was an athlete as well. He was the sixth man, a guard, on the West Virginia men’s basketball team that was led by Hall of Famer Jerry West.

Mary Lou was a natural athlete who was unstoppable inside the house. Her mother, Lois, said she finally put Mary Lou into a gymnastics class when far too many lamps were overturned.

“I was a tomboy,” Mary Lou told me. “I looked like a little boy. I even ran around topless.”

She said all this with a smile. Everything about this teenager, unknown to me until that week, screamed out fun, joy, happiness. Bill had an idea for a photo and asked if anyone had any bubble gum. I actually did, so I handed it to Mary Lou, who started chewing and then blew a massive pink bubble that covered her entire face. This made quite a picture, with her grandmother standing beside her, looking on with a wry smile, both of them in bathing suits. 

That day by the pool, the Rettons had no idea what was waiting for their daughter, but whatever it was, there was some trepidation about it. 

“I worry about her,” Lois Retton said. “I worry when she travels, about the security when she performs. She’s 16. She should be going to proms and ball games. I feel like I’ve lost her to the world. Will she ever come back?”

She did, just much more famous. Mary Lou of course became the darling of those Olympics, a household name, a role model for several generations of young female athletes — and someone I would seek for perspective when writing about little girls in big-time sports.

She has one of my favorite quotes on the subject:

“While other kids were reading about the Great Wall, I was walking on it.”

Mary Lou was a revelation at 1984 Games

It’s worth remembering exactly what happened at those 1984 Olympics. With a perfect 10 on the vault at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion, Retton became the first American to win the women’s individual all-around gold medal, one of the most coveted titles in all of sports. She won five medals altogether in L.A., including silvers in the team competition and on the vault, and bronze medals on the uneven bars and floor exercise. Considering that no American woman had ever won an individual Olympic gymnastics medal of any color, she was a revelation.

She also knew luck was on her side. The strong Soviet gymnasts, including the reigning women’s individual all-around world champion, were not in L.A., having boycotted those Games. But the highly-regarded Romanians did compete in L.A., and, as Retton said, “It was a big battle. I earned my medal.”

What happened next was a dream. She was everywhere, from the front of the Wheaties box to SI’s Sportswoman of the Year. She appeared on gymnastics tours, on TV shows and in the movies. She has been a constant presence at the Olympic Games and is one of the most sought-after speakers and celebrities in the U.S. Olympic movement. 

She also has four daughters, all of whom have been involved in gymnastics. She got a kick out of relating how she tried to remain anonymous when taking one of her daughters to a gymnastics class. That didn’t last long. 

“They knew it was me,” she said with a hearty laugh.

In the same week that the sports world continues to celebrate the greatness of Simone Biles, there’s now an outpouring of concern over the woman who started it all. 

“As the first U.S. all-around Olympic gymnastics champion, Mary Lou Retton became a shining icon of American excellence,” veteran sports agent Sheryl Shade texted Wednesday. “Her legacy is important, as her performance and personality inspired millions of girls (and parents) to swell the ranks of women’s gymnastics in the USA. Many of my gymnast clients had her poster in their rooms and on their vision boards even though she competed years before they were born.”

Who are some of those clients? Laurie Hernandez, Shawn Johnson, Shannon Miller, Amanda Borden, Jaycie Phelps and Gabby Douglas, Olympic stars all.

That Sports Illustrated cover had it right all those years ago. Mary Lou, it has always been only you.