Mary Lou Retton at Judson: I achieved what I always dreamed of
Mary Lou Retton remembers the exact moment she aspired to be an Olympic gold medalist.
It was after watching Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci become the first gymnast in Olympic history to score a perfect 10 at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal at age 14.
"It clicked for me," Retton told an audience of about 300 people Monday night during Judson University's World Leaders Forum Inspirational Series in Elgin. "I can remember telling my mom with a passion, 'I'm going to go to the Olympics just like her. I'm going to win a gold medal, not for that country, but for ours.' As silly and as crazy as that seems, I dreamed about that moment every single night as I lay in my bed."
And so she did, going from "self-taught tumbling" to making Olympic history.
At 16, Retton became the first American to win the all-around gold medal in women's gymnastics at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Her five Olympic medals - silver in the team and vault competitions, and bronze medals for uneven bars and floor exercise - were the most won by any athlete at the 1984 Olympics.
It earned Retton Sports Illustrated's "Sportswoman of the Year" and The Associated Press' "Amateur Athlete of the Year" recognition. She became the first woman to appear on a Wheaties cereal box, and the first gymnast and youngest inductee into the USOC Olympic Hall of Fame. A 1993 AP National Survey dubbed Retton the "Most Popular Athlete in America."
She now is a motivational speaker, corporate spokeswoman and fitness ambassador.
Retton said she never tires of watching the video clip of her Olympic gold medal win.
"It was one of the most incredible moments of my life," said the 48-year-old Italian-American.
She credited her Baptist faith, her coach Romanian Béla Károlyi - who had coached Comaneci before his defection to the United States - and her own stubborn spirit for helping her accomplish her dream.
For most Olympic athletes, the most memorable moment is when they are draped with the gold medal, but for Retton it was running down from the podium and into her coach's arms.
"What you all saw in that film was not supposed to happen, but I've got some gold medals at home that say it did," she said. "Only way to make your dreams come true is taking those challenges and meeting them. I wasn't supposed to be there. I certainly wasn't supposed to do that. Gold medalists weren't supposed to come from America. I wasn't built the way gymnasts were supposed to be built."
Retton shared her story of struggles, overcoming obstacles - such as having knee surgery six weeks before her historic win - and adversity through perseverance and positive attitude, and the lessons she learned along the way.
"It takes the same qualities to become a champion in business as it does to become a champion in sports ... just a tremendous amount of hard work, dedication, determination and believing in yourself, your abilities, and most importantly, having a strong faith, being convicted," she said.
Retton is the second inspirational speaker the Christian liberal arts university has brought to Elgin. Serbian Australian evangelist Nick Vujicic gave a rousing speech at the inaugural inspirational series last October.
Proceeds from the event support the World Leaders Forum Student Scholars Program and the Judson University Entrepreneurial Studies Program.