Mary Lou Retton, the Olympic gymnastics champion, is currently hospitalized in Texas due to pneumonia and is receiving intensive care.
Retton’s daughter, McKenna Kelley, shared Retton’s condition in an Instagram post on Tuesday. Kelley said the 55-year-old Retton, who became the first American woman to win the Olympic all-around title, is “fighting for her life” and not able to breathe on her own.
Kelley initiated a fundraising initiative to support Retton’s medical expenses. Kelley mentioned that Retton is presently lacking medical insurance.
When Retton was 16, she became a symbol of the U.S. Olympic movement by winning a gold medal at the 1984 Summer Games in Los Angeles. Retton, who was raised in Fairmont, W.V., also received two silver and two bronze medals at the Olympics, which played a significant role in popularizing gymnastics in the U.S., a sport that had previously been dominated by eastern European countries such as Romania and the Soviet Union.
Retton, a mother of four, currently lives in Texas.
Source: cbc.ca
