‘I should be dead’: Olympics left USA icon damaged forever

A true Olympic icon of the 20th century is hanging on to life, with those close to her saying she has been left permanently damaged.

Mary Lou Retton became a true American hero while still a teenager, scooping up a spectacular gold in the individual all-around competition at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, at age 16.

The price of such glories had to be paid later in life, the NY Post reports.

“She couldn’t even take a full breath when I talked to her, she takes these little panting breaths,” ex-brother-in-law Shaun Kelley, who remains close to her, told The Post.

It’s a far cry from when she proudly became the first female athlete to grace a Wheaties box in her Olympic year.

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Retton, now 57, frequently wears an oxygen cannula, remains on medication, and has undergone many debilitating hip surgeries that have left her struggling physically.

It’s a heavy toll that her career as an Olympian has taken on her body, according to Kelley, who said he last spoke with Retton a few weeks ago.

The once-mighty, 4-foot-9-inch (144cm) gymnast crashed back into the news on May 17 when she was hit with a DUI after cops in her hometown of Fairmont, West Virginia, allegedly found her in her 2019 Porsche Macan in an AutoZone parking lot.

Mary Lou Retton taking gold in Los Angeles 1984 in the women’s individual all-around gymnastics final.

Retton poses for "Dancing with the Stars" Season 27 in 2018. (Photo by David Livingston/Getty Images)

An arrest report claimed she reeked of booze, was slurring her words, and had a bottle of wine by her side.

Somewhat ironically, she was just two miles from her namesake, Mary Lou Retton Drive, when it happened.

Kelley said Retton, who also has a home in Boerne, Texas, continues to undergo treatment for long Covid and lung problems, and he was alarmed by the alleged presence of the wine.

“She is on all these meds and one drink could throw off her brain chemistry,” he claimed, adding that since the incident, from which she quickly bailed out of jail, “she is healing” and lying low in West Virginia.

“She’s a great mother and a giving person, she raised four amazing daughters,” he added, saying he hopes she gets better. He also clarified that Retton has no history of alcohol abuse that he knew of.

Retton — whose daughters are all with ex Shannon Kelley, whom she divorced after 27 years of marriage in 2018 — suffered another health scare in 2023 when she contracted “a very rare form of pneumonia”, according to a post made by her second-oldest daughter, McKenna Kelley.

Mary Lou Retton frequently uses an oxygen cannula to help her breathe following battles with Covid and pneumonia. TODAY/NBC

“Girl, I should be dead,” she told People magazine a year later, describing how she spent a month in the hospital.

At one time, doctors told her daughters — Shayla Rae, 30, McKenna, 28, Skyla, 25, and Emma Jean, 22 — “to come to say their goodbyes”.

She pulled through, but was left depleted.

“My lungs are so scarred. It will be a lifetime of recovery. My physicality was the only thing I had, and it was taken away from me. It’s embarrassing,” she added to People.

Even worse, she had no insurance, saying in another interview with NBC, in which she appeared with an oxygen cannula in her nose, “I just couldn’t afford it”, citing her divorce and the underlying health conditions she had been left with, after 30 orthopaedic surgeries.

McKenna created an online fundraiser that brought in almost $500,000 from fans, sportspeople, and public figures shocked by how Retton had seemingly fallen on such hard times.

McKenna told USA Sports last year her mother started running into money troubles during the Covid pandemic, which limited her ability to earn money “because she was not able to work and give speeches for two years due to the pandemic”.

Retton became an icon after making history at the 1984 Olympics.

However, it appears Retton traded an older Porsche for her current one during this same period, getting the newer car in December 2021, according to a Carfax report seen by The Post.

Retton retired from professional gymnastics in 1986, not long after her gold medal triumph. She capitalised on her fame and signed endorsement deals with many products, then became a commentator for NBC at the 1988 Olympics. She wrote a daily column through the 1992 and 1996 Olympics for USA Today and co-hosted a TV show, “Road To Olympic Gold”, per her USA Gymnastics biography.

Retton also tried her hand at movies, appearing in “Scrooged” in 1988 and 1994’s “Naked Gun 33 1/3” as well as making guest appearances in shows including “Baywatch” and “Knots Landing”, plus continuing to take bookings as a motivational speaker and “fitness ambassador”.

Her last high-profile bookings were a 2014 Super Bowl XLVIII commercial and a 2018 stint on “Dancing With The Stars”, where she finished in ninth place.

Retton (left) with her four daughters. Photo: Instagram.

Retton with her Olympics medals in 2000. Photo: Getty.

However, after the goodwill brought in with Retton’s pneumonia fundraiser, people began to ask questions.

It was pointed out that it’s illegal to deny coverage to those with underlying conditions.

Others asked where any excess money from the fundraiser, which had originally set its goal at $50,000, went.

The family claimed they donated money not used for treatment to the American Lung Association, although the charity said it wouldn’t comment on individual donations when contacted by The Post.

It also emerged that during her divorce from quarterback-turned-real estate developer Kelley, she was awarded almost $2 million in cash, according to the Daily Mail, as well as the profits from selling two houses.

She was also given a vehicle valued at $43,000, which she later traded in.

Retton, who did not respond to requests for comment, also reached an out-of-court settlement with the maker of her metal hip replacements, Biomet, in 2019 for an unknown amount, per the Mail’s report.

Retton’s corporate LLC, which she used for her speaking engagements, is now inactive but she has started new businesses.

Mary Lou Retton is congratulated by teammates after scoring a perfect 10.0 on the vault in the team event in 1984.

She formed a company called Forever Our Legacy, described as “For Mothers & Daughters”, which has run a women’s gymnastics competition tour annually since 2022.

The Forever Our Legacy competition is planned to take place in South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Michigan in February 2026. The event also includes meet-and-greet opportunities with Retton and her daughter, who was also a competitive gymnast.

Retton also partnered with a Michigan leotard company in 2023 to sell her own themed leotards, and McKenna sells video messages on Cameo for $100 each.

Shaun Kelley also confirmed that Retton is excited to attend her youngest daughter Emma Jean’s wedding to former University of Arkansas football star Hudson Clark next month.

“They inspire me, and they do every day,” Retton told People of her four girls. “They’re extraordinary young women and my biggest accomplishment. Take my five medals. I’ll take my daughters over that anytime.”

This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.

Originally published as ‘I should be dead’: Olympics left USA icon damaged forever