Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton arrested and charged with DUI
Gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton was arrested on May 17 on suspicion of impaired driving and charged with DUI.
The 57-year-old was detained in Marion County for 'driving under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances, or drugs', according to the West Virginia Magistrate Court system.
The Olympic gold medalist was released after personally posting a $1,500 bond. An attorney for Retton was not listed in court records and her spokespeople have yet to comment.
She was caught 'slurring her words' with a bottle of wine behind the wheel of her Porsche, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com revealed that she had 'the odor of alcohol' coming from her while sitting in the driver's seat of her still-running car.
Officers also noted that she had a 'screw top container of wine' that was in the passenger seat of her car when they approached her.
She failed all three phases of the standard field sobriety test and refused a roadside preliminary breath test, as well as a secondary chemical test of her blood.
Best known for receiving two perfect-ten scores at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics weeks after a knee operation, Retton has battled more health issues in recent years.
She struggled with pneumonia in 2023, which led her daughter to create a crowdfunding page to help pay mounting hospital bills. The fund raised $200,000 in a day, as per WBOY.com.
However, the family soon drew criticism after refusing to clarify where the donations would be going, while Retton's claim that she did not have insurance was also doubted by some.
'They didn't deserve that,' Retton said in May when asked about the backlash her daughters received.
'They were just trying to take care of me. I don't care about the naysayers. There are trolls everywhere. It's what makes us America. Everybody's got an opinion, but it is what it is.'
While there was a happy ending for Retton in 2023, doctors briefly feared for her life as her daughters delivered what they thought would be their final farewell to their mother.
Even now, Retton fears she will never properly recover from the damage to her lungs.
'It's been really hard,' she said in an emotional interview with People in 2024. '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.'
Retton believes she recovered from the terrifying ordeal as 'God wasn't ready' for her yet, despite admitting that she is extremely fortunate to still be alive.
She added: 'Girl, I should be dead. The doctors told them [daughters] to come to say their goodbyes.
'They prayed over me, and McKenna said, "Mommy, it's OK, you can go".
'I didn't have much of a relationship with my mother, but I can't imagine what that was like, to watch their mom on her deathbed.'
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