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Former US Olympic gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton was arrested and charged with a DUI in West Virginia earlier this month, per Mirna Alsharif and Meriam Bouarrouj of NBC.
According to records in the Magistrate Court of Marion County, the legendary Olympic gymnast was arrested on May 17.
The Fairmont Police Department and Marion County's Sheriff's Office have not commented on the arrest, despite numerous media inquiries about the incident.
Online records show that Retton posted a $1,500 bond. The 57-year-old gymnast has not commented on her arrest individually or through her representatives.
Retton will be remembered for performing in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. She was the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal, and her performance will be remembered most because she won the medal on an injured knee that she had surgery on just weeks before the games started.
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Her perfect 10s on the vault and floor exercise were the highlights of her gutsy performance, which helped her clinch the title. That summer, she won five medals, highlighted by that gold, two silver and two bronze medals. The one-of-a-kind performance by Retton earned her Sports Illustrated's title of “Sportswoman of the Year.” She was later inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997.
Retton stayed in the spotlight after her historic performance, working as a motivational speaker and television personality. Her breakthrough performance in 1984 was a massive domino toward the dominance we see today in US gymnastics. Simone Biles is the most prominent example of this wave of dominance.
The recent arrest comes two years after Retton was hospitalized due to a rare form of pneumonia and was said to be fighting for her life after a stint in intensive care. The public support she garnered received national attention in 2023.
The support became so overwhelming that the crowd-funded care received $200,000 one day after her daughter made the campaign public. Retton was later discharged from the hospital, but this recent arrest adds even more questions to the well-being of the former star.
