[] That made it special for people. See Her Now. A post shared by shay schrep (@shaylaschrepfer). [23], In 1997, Retton was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. That's all she is.". She appeared on a Wheaties box, and became the cereal's first official spokeswoman. At 26 years old, Shayla is Retton's eldest daughter. Our content is fact checked by our senior editorial staff to reflect accuracy and ensure our readers get Mary Lou Retton Mary Lou Retton's official Instagram. Skater Gracie Gold 'Overwhelmed' After Emotional Routine Returning from Depression Struggles, All the Olympians Who've Competed on 'Dancing with the Stars', Simone Biles and 'Today' Surprise Sunisa Lee's Father with New Wheelchair: 'This is Amazing', Mary Lou Retton talks about staying healthy for her kids, UCLA Gymnast Who Scored Perfect 10 Officially Finishes Her College Career with Upbeat Routine, Jade Carey Wins Gold! It really helped me find that woman that I was searching for. Houston pitmaster goes viral after hilarious TV interview, Astros GM Dana Brown has more praise team's top prospect, Principal fired for reading 'I Need a New Butt!' The moment was also captured in photos and shared online, as seen in the tweet below from @JacquesDoucet: A very touching moment late, as @LSUgym @mckennamckelley performs her final floor routine as a Tiger, with her legendary mother Mary Lou Retton in tears looking on. '", Despite her daughters' success in their athletic pursuits, Retton has said that the main thing she's focused on is their happiness. "I tell her every season, 'McKenna, I'm really gonna do it this season. pic.twitter.com/qhggSex98D. Mary Lou Retton, the Olympic all-around champion in 1984, is raising four daughters, and three of them are gymnasts. Mary Lou Retton (born January 24, 1968) is an American retired gymnast. She then decided to move to Houston, Texas, to train under Romanians Bla and Mrta Krolyi, who had coached Nadia Comneci before their defection to the United States. "All my problems came after I had my babies. Wonderful final performance for her career at @LSUgym pic.twitter.com/DR9R83G9P8. 08/11/2004 (E. Joe Deering/Chronicle). "McKenna was very . You can find out more and change our default settings with Cookies Settings. Opening up about her decision to step away, Kelley shared that she feels so at peace.. She was one of the most beautiful gymnasts I've ever seen. The teenage beauty was pictured wearing the traditional graduation attire a navy blue graduation gown with oversized sleeves and cap. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. [emailprotected]. See Her Now. "I just want them to know that I'm proud of them no matter what, whether they're gymnasts or not, just because they're human.". [16] She retired in 1986. Although she didn't compete in any meets during her first year, her career is just beginning. xhr.setRequestHeader('Content-Type', 'text/plain;charset=UTF-8'); (Retton lives in Houston, and the show is filmed in Los Angeles. View this post on Instagram #grateful A post. Gymnast Carly Patterson Won Olympic Gold 17 Years Ago. A post shared by Mary Lou Retton (@marylouretton) I dont think I understood the enormity of what she did and the groundbreaking gymnastics she did at the time. ': What Happened to the Stars of the Iconic Series through the Years, Csar Domboy's Girlfriend: All We Know about the 'Outlander' Star's Dating History, Girl Bans Single Mom from Her Graduation after Learning She Works as a Cleaner Story of the Day, Pat Sajaks Son Insists the Star Calls Him Dr Sajak While His Daughter Follows in His Footsteps - Meet Them, Woman Visits Orphanage She Left 16 Years Ago and Sees a Girl Who Is Her Carbon Copy There Story of the Day. A lot of people were surprised.. On Saturday, April 20, LSU finished second at the NCAA Womens Gymnastics Championships. She also became the first American woman to be an Olympic all-around champion an honor she held alone until the ongoing five-peat of American all-around champions (in order: Carly Patterson in 2004 in Athens, Nastia Liukin in 2008 in Beijing, Gabby Douglas in 2012 in London, Simone Biles in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro and Suni Lee in 2021 in Tokyo). I talked to Shawn Johnson and Nastia Liukin before I went out, and they said it would be an incredible journey thats what I was hoping for, and it certainly was. "I think people expect this elaborate answer of she made me run at 6 a.m in the morning, but she's just mom to me. Did having her mom there make Kelley nervous? 66.9k Followers, 1,325 Following, 744 Posts - See Instagram photos and videos from Mary Lou Retton (@marylouretton) marylouretton. HOUCHRON CAPTION (08/19/2004): HOUCHRON CAPTION (08/19/2004): Mary Lou Retton displays the five medals she won in 1984 (gold, two silver, two bronze as a member of the U.S. gymnastics team. She shared a photo of the LSU team holding a trophy with the caption, Yep, She also shared a photo of herself in the stands, along with a big group of other LSU parents. I hadnt done that in over 30 years. 55 minutes ago, by Eden Arielle Gordon For her performance, she was named Sports Illustrated Magazine's "Sportswoman of the Year." Now, her daughter McKenna Kelley is following in her footsteps, as she just performed a near-perfect routine at the NCAA championships on Sunday as her proud . [28][29][30] In 2019, Retton became a spokesperson for Australian Dream, a pain relief cream. Her university profile notes that she finished in fourth place at the Texas State Championship 2016, with a score of 9.8 in vault and 9.675 in floor exercise. See Mary Lou Retton's 4 Daughters, Who All Followed in Her Footsteps. This wasn't her only win at the games; she also won silver in the team and vault competitions, along with bronze medals in uneven bar and floor exercise. And while she may not share the same athletic interests as her family, they're still close. While McKenna grew up with a world-famous Olympian, she says that her mom never pressured her into becoming a gymnast. The beautiful star was, however, more than happy to share that her grown daughter is on her way into adulthood. [18], In 1985, she received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member General Chuck Yeager. She and her wife, Molly, are the proud moms of two formerly stray cats, Sophie and Pierre, and a rescue dog named Gracie. Theres that fine line between a daughter and a friend, so theres a lot that I couldnt share with them. "My role is to love them no matter what, have that shoulder for them to cry on if they're hurt or frustrated," she explained to Parade. And yet, more than 30 years later, the Sports Illustrated headline of Aug. 13, 1984, rings true: Mary Lou Retton laughs appreciatively at the notion that, at age 48 and the mother of four daughters, she has been regarded as the greatest of all American female gymnasts, even surpassing those who jump higher, run faster and perform skills in the 21st century she never dreamed of accomplishing in the 20th - at least until Biles' performance in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. [6] (The original family name was "Rotunda. Though Retton felt lonely throughout the process, she says she had the support of the couples four daughters Shayla, 23, McKenna, 21, Skyla, 18, and Emma, 16. HOUCHRON CAPTION (09/13/1998): Mary Lou Retton, from left, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels, Franelle Rogers and Mayor Lee Brown meet in Brown's office to discuss details of the third annual USOC Coach of the Year awards Sept. 19 at the Hyatt Regency Imperial Ballroom. and I LOVE it!!. Posts. Retton was thrust back into the spotlight when the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal hit the news in 2016. If anything, when we were growing up shed be like, You should quit. Having retired from gymnastics after winning an unprecedented third American Cup title in 1985, as noted above, she later had cameo appearances as herself in Scrooged and Naked Gun '"`UNIQ--templatestyles-00000016-QINU`"'33+13: The Final Insult. Show More Posts from marylouretton. He joined the Houston Chronicle in 1990 after stints at the Dallas bureau of United Press International (1984-90), the Waco Tribune-Herald (1978-84) and the Tyler Morning Telegraph (1975-78). McKenna then took her gymnastics career to the collegiate level at Louisiana State University. McKenna, who's now 24, was co-championof the Nastia Liukin Cup, an annual U.S. competition hosted by the former Olympian, in 2014. She'll be starting her junior year this fall and is in the Alpha Phi sorority. 403 N 3rd St, Richmond , VA 23219. That really was my final routine, she shared, referring to her near-perfect floor routine, which led her team to an overall second-place victory. "My role is to love them no matter what, have that shoulder for them to cry on if they're hurt or frustrated," she explained to Parade. I wanted to tell people why., I knew I wanted to do it in a classy way, she continues. She also says she checked comments on her social media pages something she doesnt normally do to see if her story inspired anybody going through the same thing. [2] Her performance made her one of the most popular athletes in the United States. The floors today are like little trampolines. Now live in Houston with her husband and their four kids. Roger Clemens makes surprise appearance at Astros' Spring Training, Hiker captures 'once-in-a-lifetime' photo of wildlife at Brazos Bend State Park, Why Johnson City in Texas Hill Country is the new, cooler Fredericksburg. Retton is executive producer and star of the show, a series for under-6 set. But that kind of gymnastics has gone. Now she's going for platinum. 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. Houston Baptist University football program. All four of their children have been involved with gymnastics, like their mom, who, at 53, is working in sports once again, managing a new competitive tour. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. "People still come up to me and say they remember where they were during the summer of 1984," she said. "Her voice is so distinct, and I can always hear it in the crowd," Kelley said. Born and raised in Fairmont, W.Va., (her father, Ron, at 5 feet 7, was a co-captain with Jerry West on West Virginia's 1959 NCAA Tournament finalists), Retton came to Houston at age 14 to train with Bela and Martha Karolyi, who trained the great Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci before coming to the United States in the early 1980s. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. To me shes just mom, Kelley, a senior at Louisiana State University shared, adding that after making the decision to pursue gymnastics, she never felt pushed to succeed by her mother. What supplements should we really be taking? In the backyard play area Mary Lou with her four daughters Shayla,9 McKenna,7 Skyla,4 and Emma,2 Mary Lou Retton a member of the 1984 Olympic gymnastics team won five metals in LA. Agreeing with her daughters remarks, Retton, 51, said that although she enrolled all of her four daughters in gymnastics classes, she didnt put pressure on them., I put my four daughters into a sport that I love. scientific studies and medical journals. I'm so grateful to be following you on social media: you were my first ever hero @marylouretton, and I wanted to be just like you.. In 1985, Retton won the American Cup all-around competition for the third and final time. She also posts frequently about her mom and dad. On LSU's senior night in March, Kelley earned her first career perfect 10, with Retton watching from the crowd. Gosh it brings it all back!!! Retton won the gold medal in the event. She graduated from Baylor University in 2017 with a major in Health Science. Trailing Szabo (after uneven bars and balance beam) by 0.15 with two events to go, Retton scored perfect 10s on floor exercise and vaultthe last event in an especially dramatic fashion, as there had been fears that her knee injury and the subsequent surgery might impair her performance. So far, Rettons May 25 post has amassed well over 8,000 likes and numerous comments. Skyla is lucky enough to get genes from a renowned talent like Retton, and she now has many of her mother's fans looking forward to her future endeavors. When Louisiana State University gymnast McKenna Kelley nailed the final floor routine of the night at the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships on Saturday, no one was prouder than her mom, Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton. . After nearly 30 years of marriage, the couple divorced in 2018, but they still share their four daughters: Shayla Kelley, McKenna Kelley, Skyla Kelley, and Emma Kelley. Even with four kids who've done gymnastics, Retton has never been tempted to coach them herself. By signing up, I agree to the Terms and Privacy Policy and to receive emails from POPSUGAR. No more high school for this young lady! After the show aired, Retton says a lot of people reached out and were surprised to hear that she and Kelley had separated. All four of their children have been involved with gymnastics, like their mom, who, at 53, is working in sports once again, managing a new competitive tour. See Her Now. NO MORE HIGH SCHOOL FOR THIS YOUNG LADY. Mary Lou Retton-Kelley lights up the cauldron during the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay Monday, Dec. 10, 2001, in Houston, TX. Its woven into every fabric of my being. 9 of 24 10 of 24 In the backyard play area Mary Lou with her four daughters Shayla,9 McKenna,7 Skyla,4 and Emma,2 Mary Lou Retton a member of the 1984 Olympic gymnastics team won five metals in LA . All four of my children were born here, and my husband is from here. Last Christmas, she shared a photo of her and her sisters in matching pajamas on Instagram. But McKenna Kelley, who exhibits the . Last Christmas, she shared a photo of her and her sisters in matching pajamas on Instagram.