New claims surrounding the arrest of Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton have been revealed.
In a Tuesday, May 27, report from the Associated Press, West Virginia’s Fairmont Police department allegedly claimed Retton, 57, “smelled of alcohol and was slurring her words,” following the failure of a field sobriety test conducted by officials on the scene.
The report also stated that officers observed “a container of wine in the passenger seat” prior to Retton’s May 17 arrest on a single count of “driving under the influence of alcohol, controlled substances, or drugs,” per legal document details published by People on Monday, May 26.
Us Weekly has reached out to Retton’s team for comment.
Fairmont Police representatives also reported that they stopped Retton after learning of “a person in a Porsche driving erratically.”
The Associated Press stated that the retired athlete, who made history at the 1984 Summer Olympics when she became the first American woman to win gold in the individual all-around competition, “refused a roadside breath test and blood test.”
She was released from custody after paying a $1,500 personal recognizance bond.
In October 2023, Retton spent two weeks in the ICU while battling a rare form of pneumonia. At the time, her daughters started a crowdsourcing fund to pay her medical bills. Their efforts attracted online criticism, with Retton publicly defending them in the aftermath. (Retton shares daughters Shayla, 30, McKenna, 28, Skyla, 25, and Emma, 22, with ex-husband Shannon Kelley.)
Bela Karolyi, a controversial figure in the world of gymnastics, has trained a plethora of Olympic superstars, from Nadia Comaneci to Mary Lou Retton. Karolyi died at the age of 82 on November 15, 2024. Over the course of his career, the alleged strictness of his coaching methods has been called into question more than […]
“They didn’t deserve that,” Retton told Entertainment Tonight in May 2024. “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.”
Retton’s interview with the outlet also revealed that her financial situation suffered following her 2018 divorce from Kelley, in addition to the onset of 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking candidly about the time, she told the outlet of her previous speaking engagements, “[When] COVID hit, literally COVID hit — our job is to be near people and talk to them and so there was no work whatsoever. Let’s say that the height of my fame was years ago and I [was] just doing enough to make it, doing enough to pay my bills.”
Shortly after Retton was hospitalized with pneumonia, McKenna started a spotfund, which surpassed its initial $50,000 fundraising goal.
Retton reflected further via her interview with the outlet, “It’s a very long recovery, I’m still on oxygen, and I had a bit of a relapse a while ago, but I’m back and regulated. It’s just more discouragement than anything because, you know, patience isn’t one of my strong skill sets.
She continued, “I’m tired of this thing up my nose. … I’m a speaker and haven’t been able to work because I don’t know if I can get up on stage and do an hour-long talk like I’ve normally done for 40 years. That’s frustrating.”
