Find out from this article about the American retired gymnast, Mary Lou and her four daughters: Mckenna Kelley, Shayla Rae, Skyla Brae, Emma Jean.
Mary Lou Retton is an American retired gymnast. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, she won a gold medal in the individual all-around competition, as well as two silver medals and two bronze medals. Her performance made her one of the most popular athletes in the United States.
Who is Mary Lou Retton?
Mary Lou Retton was born on January 24, 1968, in Fairmont, West Virginia. Her father, Ronnie, operated a coal-industry transportation equipment business. She attended Fairmont Senior High School but did not graduate. She competed in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California, during her sophomore year of high school.
Retton lived in Houston, Texas, until 2009, when her family returned to West Virginia. She moved back to Houston in 2012. She was married to former University of Texas quarterback and Houston real estate developer Shannon Kelley, who now works for the Houston Baptist University athletic department.
Together they have four daughters: Shayla (born 1995), McKenna (born 1997), Skyla (born 2000), and Emma (born 2002). McKenna was a NCAA gymnast at Louisiana State University.
Retton divorced her husband in February 2018. On October 10, 2023, Retton’s daughter said on social media that her mother was critically ill with a rare form of pneumonia.
Mary Lou Retton career
Retton was inspired by watching Nadia Comăneci outshine defending Olympic two-event winner Olga Korbut on television at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal when she herself was eight years of age, and she took up gymnastics in her hometown of Fairmont, West Virginia. She was coached by Gary Rafaloski.
She then decided to move to Houston, Texas, to train under Romanians Béla and Márta Károlyi, who had coached Nadia Comăneci before their defection to the United States. Under the Károlyis, Retton soon began to make a name for herself in the U.S., winning the American Cup in 1983 and placing second to Dianne Durham (another Károlyi student) at the US Nationals that same year.
Though Retton missed the World Gymnastics Championships in 1983 due to a wrist injury, she won the American Classic in 1983 and 1984, as well as Japan’s Chunichi Cup in 1983.
After winning her second American Cup, the U.S. Nationals, and the U.S. Olympic Trials in 1984, Retton suffered a knee injury when she was performing a floor routine at a local gymnastics center at the time. She had sat down to sign autographs when she felt her knee lock, forcing her to undergo an operation five weeks prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics, which were going to be held in Los Angeles—the first time the Summer Olympics had been held in the United States in 52 years.
She recovered just in time for this most prestigious of tournaments, and in the competition, which was boycotted by the Soviet bloc nations except for Romania, Retton was engaged in a close battle with Ecaterina Szabo of Romania for the all-around gold medal. Trailing Szabo (after uneven bars and balance beam) by 0.15 with two events to go, Retton scored perfect 10s on floor exercise and vault—the last event in an especially dramatic fashion, as there had been fears that her knee injury and the subsequent surgery might impair her performance.
Who are the children of Mary Lou Retton?
When Mary Lou Retton was married to Shannon Kelley, they had four daughters.
Shayla, McKenna, Skyla, and Emma are her daughters.
The girls have all been active in gymnastics or sports since they were small, just like their mother.
Shayla was a member of the Baylor University’s tumbling and acrobatics team in 2017 while she was a student there.
Shayla achieved success in the sport by taking home an individual title from the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association.
McKenna, Mary’s second child, participated in gymnastics while attending Louisiana State University. She participated in the NCAA Team Finals while she was a student. Skyla pursued cheering while the Olympian’s daughter did not participate in collegiate gymnastics.
And lastly, Emma competes for the University of Arkansas gymnastics team. 2016 saw Emma rank fourth at the Texas State Championship.
