Research

Mary Lou Retton On January 24, 1968 in Fairmont, West Virginia a new generation of athlete was born. In time, a new way of gymnastics was revolutionized because of one extraordinary young lady. She was an amazing gymnast from the start and her name was, Mary Lou Retton, she changed gymnastics and left with a mark. Mary Lou Retton’s powerful skills led her to being the first American gymnast to win a gold medal in the Olympics and inspired gymnasts later on. If the sport of gymnastics was never introduced into the United States, Mary would not have become America’s sweetheart. In the 1830s, gymnastics was first introduced to the U.S. The sport was just for fun, until it started to become a competitive sport about 100 years ago. As women started to find this sport, a women’s Olympic team was created. The team was created around 1928. During the year of 1936 the women’s Olympic team competed for their first time at the Berlin Olympics. As time moved on, more and more people started to get involved with the sport (History).
The 24th of January, 1968 one amazing athlete was born. Mary Lou Retton, born in Fairmont, West Virginia, struck people’s lives (Moritz 461). It was no coincidence that she would become an amazing athlete because she came from a family of former athletes. Lois and Ron Retton are the proud and supportive parents of America’s former sweetheart (Moritz 462). Mary’s parent’s support of athletics began with her first dance class in 1974, a day that would change history forever. A year later, she found her passion; a passion that would change her life. She went to West Virginia University to start her first day of gymnastics. During her first gymnastics class everybody realized that Mary was fit for a gymnast’s life (Moritz 462). A couple years later as Mary progressed up to harder levels because of her talent; Bela Karolyi, who was a Gymnastics coach from Romania, spotted Mary and knew as soon as he saw her that she was going to go far.