Mary Lou Retton is an obnoxious frau on Instagram!

Oh yeah , her Insta

You just know she acts like Queen Bee on the HOA board.

She looks like a muppet.

She has lots of followers because she was America's fucking SWEETHEART and she was on Wheaties boxes.

She is the STAR of her suburban housing development!

Bow down, lesser frauen.

Where does she get her money from that she's able to do nothing at all? That gold medal was almost forty years ago

She's made some enemies.

[quote] USA Gymnastics during the Nassar scandal is a perfect example of this. As Mary Lou Retton, Steve Penny, and other members of the organization tried to spin it, they didn’t meet with members of Congress in an attempt to block a bill aimed at trying to curb sexual abuse in sports, but rather, they just wanted to highlight how solid the federation’s existing policies were. As if the implication clearly wasn’t “the current rules are fine, we don’t need more rules.”

Mary Lou was the first famous midget in American history.

She’s a Republican. She can fuck off.

Is there any other kind of frau on Instagram?

10/10.

LMFAO R2 that's exactly what I thought

[quote] She’s a Republican. She can fuck off.

So is Kerri Strug. They both attended the 2004 RNC as speakers, I believe.

[quote]Where does she get her money from that she's able to do nothing at all?

She does a lot of commercials and endorsements.

Fraus gotta frau.

A lot of those gymnasts are religious conservatives.

"her perfect life"? OP, remember: she has a problem with incontinence ("squirting").

R17, weird, since so many male gymnasts are gay!

She's rumored to be able to eat her own pussy!

R18 Mary Lou poos her pants!

That midget cunt stole my job.

Mary Lou also advertised tampons! She had heavy flow

I'll never forget the time Larry Flynt featured her in Hustler Magazine.

She looks like a potato in a bed.

Didn't she have a kid with her 13-year-old student?

Didn't she die?

She looks like a LUMP.

She looks like an overly-fried chicken McNugget.

Fuck her and her endorsements.

And that little midget Simone Biles

Wow, lots of angry folks on here. Hard to believe a woman who stands just 4'9" can cause such a stir amongst you ladies.

R30 got lost on her way to Etsy and Pinterest.

^ swallows

Oh good, the Vagina Defender is here. Thank heavens, people were saying critical things about a WOMAN. A woman who has A VAGINA!

We can't allow that on the Datalounge. It's so wrong. We're only allowed to be critical of penised persons here, everyone knows that.

Does Mary Lou have a vagina though?

Well she birthed 4 daughters, so I'm guessing she does LOL

Allegedly, r34.

Thems some meaty ham arms she got.

I don’t really care about her life or her politics. Had it not been for the OP, I haven’t thought about her in decades.

Of course she's a frau. Look at that mug, that build! It's unthinkable that she'd be anything else.

I heard she pissed her leotard on her second vault after she won the gold medal.

I thought she was a gay icon?

Mary Lou Retton? Why would she be a gay icon?

Well she does do anal like a champ.

How can she be so frau and so caneface at the same time?!

Her gold medal will always carry an asterisk next to it.

R44 why*

Honestly, I'd expect her to have way more than 65k followers. I was never surprised by Retton - was there ever a time when people honestly thought this wouldn't be how she turned out?

R45, Mary Lou won the All-Around title at a Games boycotted by the world's best gymnasts at the time -- the Soviets, which included the reigning world champion.

She looks like a giant size mutton clump with no legs.

A brown lump.

Gymnastics is super frau and conservative. I don't now why, but in America it is.

Her teeth are perfect little pearls. They're scary.

True R50-

A giant size mutton clump with no legs.

A brown lump with perfect little teeth like miniature chicklets.

LOVING this bitch! She's a gymnastic overbaked potato!

She reminds me of a human mudpie.

Shit.

She’s a fidget with a weird boxy body and suburban mom face. She has nothing to brag about.

Weird face? What do you mean?

Without that painfully stretched smile she looks like a completely different person.

😬.

But R35 I don't know nuthin bout birthin no babies!!

She is a HUMAN MUDPIE!

Shit.

This fucking bitch lucked out when the Soviets and East Germans boycotted the LA Games. As if that wasn't enough this midget cunt also got favorable scores during the all around finals. Szabo deserved to win, not Mary Lou Rotten.

This Republicunt would today be a nobody single mom of eight, desperately trying to sell her body for meth and crack if the '84 Games hadn't been held in the US.

All y'all bitches are just jealous because she was America's sweetheart!

Y’all are jealous because she’s living her best life! She has stayed in shape and looks great. From her Instagram photos her house looks very nice.

I remember her from Saturday mornings in the 80s and I'd be all "who is this perky cunt". Except I had no idea what a cunt was because I was 8.

STAYED IN SHAPE!!!!!!!!!!???????

Always has been an ugly little Troll.

She looks very mismatched with her husband.

OP = Ecaterina Szabo

She reminds me of Johnny Rapid.

She sure has milked that gold medal for all it was worth.

She is a

MUDPIE.

She looks like a dirtmound.

She IS mud.

I see, r68, that explains the pliability before she dried out.

Irony alert - the family changed its name to Retton from... drumroll... ROTUNDA.

She is a legless Sea Potato.

La Potato de la Mer.

She looks like a legless Overcooked Baked Potato.

I wish her well. She and her baby potatoes.

The little New Potatoes.

Jesus, that pic from r64 looks like a MAGA family photo.

R64, she's divorced.

R45, she defeated the reigning worlds champion, Yurchenko at the American Cup and she also defeated the next world champion Shushunova at the Chunichi Cup.

And she drinks out of a wee doll's house tea cup.

America's Sweetheart also is selling menopause relief too. She's covered all the feminine product bases, it appears--tamps, adult diapers, and now menopause relief! Is there nothing she can't do???

R76 Mary Lou's pussy has come full circle.

R74, between Mostepanova, Yurchenko, and Gnauck, it's unlikely Mary Lou would have scored gold. It's possible she might have medaled, but a gold was unlikely.

Mary Lou Retton was a frau when her career started even as a kid, before the work frau ever first frau'ed.

I always hated her.

She has a Dry Ass Pussy

Four daughters and no son?

Retton already beat Gnauck, Shushunova and Yurchenko. Never faced Mostepanova. Funny that Mostepanova was the chosen on since she was decidedly weak on vault and tumbling and didn't have the spring or athletic extension of Shushunova. Her technique on bars was weak and she had a tendency to crack under competitive pressure. At that point, gymnastics was going towards a more athletic presentation but the biggest threat worldwide would have been Dianne Durham, who beat Retton numerous times. If she had stayed with Karolyi, she almost certainly would have been the Olympic Champion and the US would have become a legit Top 3 team contender, even with the Soviets in attendance.

Retton had a pretty short career. She actually was a good gymnast - vault and floor obviously, but decent on BB and Bars as well. I'm not saying she would have consistently beat the others mentioned, just that she was a solid gymnast.

She was a sensation and got all those endorsements because of the girl next door, sweetheart image, and the fact that she won the Gold. The general population that follows the Olympics aren't going to care if it's due to a boycott or not -- this goes triple for Americans.

Retton caused a revolution on vault and tumbling but was average on the other two events. But it brought athleticism to the forefront as it should be as it a sport, not ballet.

She should use those teeth to help clean-up the forests in California.

I’m just here for commentary, her name in the title elicits a certain amount of cuntery.

Is there anything mary lou won't endorse?

I wonder why she mismatched hubby divorced. Her cuntery or his?

R89 Mary Crotch Rotten's fault! He tired of her neverending anal and DP requests. She's an insatiable sex freak

R90's comment made me recall the band Sister Mary Rotten Crotch from KC.

Sorry, I know that's off topic. Mary Lou Retton is still a cunt.

Why do some of her daughters look biracial? Are they adopted?

So she got $2 million in the divorce. And filed a restraining order against the ex.

She's a grifter!

Did her leotard have a diaper during her days as a gymnast? Didn't this bitch claim that she had bowel incontinence? How the fuck did she perform her routines? Was she spraying shit all over the arena while tumbling and doing somersaults?

She seems to give a lot of products a perfect 10.

R96 Arthritis cream too? What hasn't this bitch endorsed?

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see her doing catheter commercials.

R97, I heard she's in talks to be the next spokesperson for Boy Butter.

[quote]How does she have 65,000 followers?

Um, by winning a bunch of Olympic medals including the gold-all-around, being a hero to Gen-X-er's?

That being said, I don't know if I would still be a fan.

Anyway, 65,000 sounds about right for a famous 1980s Olympian, maybe even less than I would have wagered.

Honestly, OP, remove that hair from across your ass.

Splitting 4 million suggests endorsements are not as lucrative as they seemed. Her ex was a realtor in Texas and was also a QB at UT.

Retton hurt herself when she attempted to influence legislators to block laws that would have forced gyms to report abuse.

Ok, well after that R100, I AM TOTALLY NOT BUYING HER TAMPONS NOW!!!!!

She's a meatball.

[quote]She's covered all the feminine product bases, it appears--tamps, adult diapers, and now menopause relief! Is there nothing she can't do???

What about Vagisil?

Can she live her best life without you old Marys feeling triggered.

Has she ever shilled for yeast infection medication?

Only 65k followers?? She sure ain’t America’s Sweetheart anymore!!

(Actually her engagement is very good though)

And her daughter got engaged with a diamond you’d have to squint to see. Embarrassing.

R83, in my totally fictional, non-boycotted, "what if?" version of the 1984 All-Around, Mostepanova wins, but perhaps that says more about the style of gym I prefer.

I will give Retton credit for her vaulting abilities, and wasn't she the first gymnast to land a double layout on the old floor?

I just watched a compilation of compulsory routines from the 1996 Olympics. It was sort of fascinating - the routines, while easier than optional routines, would still trip people up and there were big mistakes here and there. Over-the-hill Boginskaya missed on her compulsory bars routine. A Chinese gymnast completely missed the one release/transition skill. And two Americans fucked up their beam routines.

R108, the 1996 compulsories were rather brutal and tricky to perform cleanly. Many great competitors messed up on the bars and beam routines especially, eliminating them from Event Finals berths. Whoever dreamed up the '93 - '96 beam compulsory routine was a bit sadistic.

I believe the increasing difficulty level of the compulsories contributed to why they were completely eliminated. They were becoming too difficult for anybody outside the powerhouse countries to compete.

I did like seeing them though, R109 - interesting comparing gymnasts doing the exact same routine. And, yeah, that 96 beam compulsory looked really, really tough. I think most general fans probably think a beam routine is WAY easier when there's a lack of tumbling on the beam. But, commentators usually note that things like full turns or blind leaps are just as or almost as hard as the more difficult looking big tumbling tricks.

Another point, R109, isn't that a good thing - the compulsories not being an after thought. That only the best countries can get most or all of the gymnasts through relatively cleanly would seem to be the point.

I also miss when all the team gymnasts had to be all-arounders. I get the pros and cons of each approach. But, is three up-three scores counted with a one or two all-arounders and a handful of specialists really revealing which country has the best gymnastics? I guess it's the same for every team, so it's fair.

R110, yes. Simple looking elements like the tour jete turn -- borrowed from ballet -- are extremely difficult.

As a fan of the sport, I miss compulsories and I think they helped maintain a certain quality level in the sport, with attention to things like proper form, extension, toe point., quality of movement, etc. Many former gymnasts said they hated performing them though.

I hate the three-up-three scores-count format. I believe the idea behind it was that it would allow other countries to be competitive (not just the US, Russia, China, Romania), but that hasn't really panned out. I miss the 7-6-5 or even 6-5-4 formats as it allowed for more depth.

Women's gymnastics is really at its nadir right now, sadly.

Also, 2001 - 2004 was the last really enjoyable quad in the sport, IMO. Once you get to the mid-2000s, with the new scoring system, the sport's watchability and quality starts to take a huge dive.

I don't blame the gymnasts though. Take Biles, for instance - a nearly pure trickster with a squat body and not the extended lines of previous era gymnasts (though in fairness there have always been the more athletic types; she's not the first). People drag her sometimes, but she didn't institute the changes to the sport and scoring. She was just there to take advantage.

R114, I agree that it's not the gymnasts' fault. They're products of the current system which values difficulty, power, and amplitude above all else.

I respect Simone because she's pushing the difficulty level of the sport by innovating and performing skills previously thought impossible (with clean form). At the same time, she's not my favorite American gymnast. On Twitter and Reddit, you'll get a lot of young kids declaring her the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), but that's a tricky declaration, because she didn't have to compete with compulsories, the 10.00 judging system, or the Soviets and Romanians when they were at their best. A lot of those kids also have no concept of gymnastics before 2008 and how different things were before the open-ended scoring system.

It's like any sport, R115 - different standards in different generations; not always comparing apples to apples. And younger people of course have their recency bias. All they know is athletic, very difficult, open-ending scoring gymnastics, so they go off of that when judging everyone from any generation.

I'm a big tennis fan and there's the same debates about players from different generations.

R116, true. I also have my bias for 1985-1996 WAG, which IMO, was the sport's peak.

I do appreciate the men's gymnastics of today more though, go figure.

Mary Lou always seemed like a phony to me!

Compulsories were like school figures in ice skating. Proponents could argue their value til blue in face but audiences never liked them. If you were ever at a world or Olympic competition, having to hear that same floor music 24 times was like waterboarding. The US and others tried to have them taken out of competition years before but the Communist block always refused, most believing because it allowed their semi-pro athletes an advantage.

R119, I can see how hearing the same floor compulsory music all day long could've driven the judges crazy.

The US still uses compulsory routines for lower divisions.

It's also funny that the 1984 Compulsory Vault for women was the 1992 Compulsory Vault for men.

Can someone tell me why Cathy Johnson looked like an old hag at 20?

R123 = Beth Rybacki

That's "Olympic Beam Bronze Medalist Kathy Johnson" to you, R123

Speaking of compulsories, Mary Lou's compulsory beam was quite weak and unsteady. What was her score here?

Kathy was 24 at the Olympics and was still relatively attractive. She hit the wall soon after and that might have coincided with her first ever period, which she had after she retired.

R123 tell me about it. It was really hard on me.

R123 let me introduce you to one of the greatest series of threads on DL.

That really was a great thread, R129.

R130 whenever I need a good laugh I re-read those threads. Especially the Nadia and Gina Gogean threads.

She stole Tracee Talavera's career

Muriel didn't yous teal Tracee's virginity? Or was that Marcia's?

I've only heard Muriel Grossfield's commentary on a few old gym clips and I thought she was a man!

MLR would have been a threat on VT and probably FX no matter where the Olympics were. An AA medal should have been out of her range but top 10(maybe top 5) would have been possible. She definitely should have won VT in 84

Marcia Frederick was way stronger than Mary Lou.

MLR would have most likely been top 5, not top 10 had the Soviet Bloc Countries turned up. Considering that the Games were held in the US, I have no doubt she actually would have medaled in the AA at a fully contested games, although I wouldn't have given her the Gold.

People forget that Mary Lou was actually a really good All-Around gymnast. She finished top 4 in every single one of the Women's Events, winning a medal on everything but Beam, where she finished 4th.

Those that say Szabo was robbed of the Gold fail to factor in that Szabo screwed herself out of the Gold by falling off Bars.

R137, MLR was also undefeated in competition for two years prior to the Olympics. The last time she lost was to Dianne Durham at the LA warmups in 1982.

I know, R138. I'm not the one arguing she wouldn't have won a medal.

People also aren't aware of how phenomenal she was on vault. She was throwing a full twisting Tsuk when no other woman was. Further, she was capable of doing a double twisting Tsuk which almost 40 years later, women still aren't really doing.

[quote] Was she spraying shit all over the arena while tumbling and doing somersaults?

Mary Lou shat on the uneven bars right before Szabo's performance and that's why she fell on UB!

MLR is stocky, but I felt her line was okay on bars and beam. The problem with here bars and beam was the very mediocre "flow" and lack of connectedness. I'm not talking "connections" in today's sense -but just an overall connection between elements that adds up to a coherent routine. Bars and beam, MLR had some nice elements that she could do well, but it all seemed a la carte - not made into anything more than the the parts. But, if she hit, she could do fairly well on those events. She was a good gymnast, she may not have won AA Gold without the boycott, but she also still could have done very well. We'll never know.

Why didn't Mary Lou stick around for 1985?

Side note - do the Chinese really care? Lol. Gymnastics is one of their premier sports and they have that massive state-run program. So you'd think it would drive them nuts that they haven't even really reached the "glory" you'd expect them to be seeking. The get team medals at WC and Olympics, but not gold. They've never won an AA gold, or really that many AA medals at all. They get their here and there beam and bars golds and also non-golds on those events fairly consistently. And then a random vault or floor medal every blue moon.

They've never really cashed all that talent in, and you'd think it would drive them nuts, but they never seemed particularly pressed about it. They seem to like innovating and being risky and letting the chips fall - which for them is often short of their potential.

R142, stick around for what? And she did compete in 1985 at the American Cup... she did so partly to "prove" that her Olympic win wasn't a fluke.

Most gymnasts don't stick around and compete after winning the Olympic AA.

And with all those endorsements and gymnastics tour/appearances money, it was probably best just to go out on top (even a boycotted top). Few Olympic athletes get those opportunities.

[quotee]They've never won an AA gold, or really that many AA medals at all.

Excuse me?

And the answer isn't that the women haven't won medals in China.. it's that they care more about their male gymnasts.

Also, Mo Huilan was robbed of the Gold in Atlanta... bastards couldn't even give her a medal.

Sorry, R146, I was talking about just the Chinese women - I should have clarified.

The Chinese female gymnasts are typically only 2 eventers.

Even Liu Xuan's AA Bronze in 2000 (first ever for China) was a fluke and she realistically wouldn't have even been in the top 10 had things not been so severely fucked up at those Games.

The Chinese female gymnasts used to have a reputation for a). primarily being excellent on bars/beam, but lacking power on the floor/vault events (Mo Huilan and Cheng Fei being exceptions), and b). being major headcases. Just how many Chinese gymnasts fell/messed up on double tuck beam dismounts during Worlds/Olympic competitions?

As a fan of Chinese gymnasts in the '90s and early '00s, they were very frustrating and heartbreaking to watch in actual competition, especially team finals and AA. They rarely lived up to their potential.

Mo Huilan still remains their most complete gymnast. She had the whole package. (I was no fan of Zhang Nan).

[quote]Mo Huilan still remains their most complete gymnast. She had the whole package.

Mo was virtually a carbon copy of Chen Cuiting. She even ended up using her floor music.

Most heartbreaking headcase of them all... Yang Bo.

R151, Yang Bo was probably my all-time favorite on Beam. She was certainly the best beam worker to never win a major title. Why didn't the coaches downgrade her BB dismount to, like, a double twist or something?

Getting back to the idea of the Chinese never seemingly being that pressed about their failures, you'd think maybe after all the not living up to potential, they'd revamp and beyond looking for the best technical gymnasts also filter them and see who is the mentally toughest - like go to Belu-style robots instead of athletes who may be be more spectacular and innovative but more prone to big mistakes/meltdowns. But, they've never done that. They seem to pride themselves more on the actual gymnastics (even if it often doesn't go well) than the results.

R153, the Chinese women's gymnastics program seems to have peaked in 2008, when they won gold in Beijing. I thought they would keep building on that victory to remain a dominant superpower in the sport, but they have regressed. I know that they were considered a major disappointment in Rio, so I thought they would shake up their program?

Based on some of the vaults I've seen from their newer gymnasts, I don't know if it would hurt for them to get some new coaches in there?

R152 because it wasn't an issue of her not being able to do the double back. She had no problem landing it as long as it wasn't during an Event Finals.

She was the most exquisite Beam Worker and the judges knew it, which is why they gave her such a big score in 92 during her compulsories where she essentially almost fell off. Still, that wasn't as big of a gift as they gave Bontas who nearly fell off 3 times and they still gave her a 9.9.

Also, the one major beam title Yang Bo won was the World Cup... that performance is great.

If I wasn’t gay already I’d turn gay now. 🤮

I forgot the team gold in 2008. But, still, China overall seems to underachieve.

The Chinese are constantly low balled and robbed of medals.

Case in point... this only earned her a Bronze.

And this is what won Gold that year.

Mary Lou locked down all of her social media accounts after Dominique moceanu went after her for defending nassar and writing messages of support for him. She also publicized retton’s lobbying against the bill that Feinstein was pushing through about coaches and gyms reporting abuse because she knew it affect the kariolis.

That's seems like bullshit, R159/R160.

Gina did have a better dismount - finished higher and stuck it. Both had two minor balance checks.

Kui's set seems to have a bit more difficulty - and considerably better line and amplitude.

Kui should have at least tied.

R159, one of the most blatant instances of highway robbery. The judges just wanted to give Gogean a Happy Going Away Retirement party. The entire gymnastics fan community was outraged by that one. Kui should have won that one outright. No to Khorkina (another over-scored gymnast who was gifted many titles) tying or beating her either. I would have ranked that Final -- Gold: Kui, Silver: Khorkina, Bronze: Teza.

In other news, I'm still not convinced Gina Gogean isn't Nosferatu's daughter.

Just for fun: Elvire Teza's under-appreciated, innovative routine in which she showcased two of her own unique skills -- a sideways Yang Bo leap, and a full-twisting Yurchenko loop. She only achieved a 6th place finish here.

She went to my school years after me. St.Peter’s Catholic, now Fairmont Catholic in Fairmont,WV.

R161, I'm not surprised with Moceanu taking issue with Mary Lou, as she has always been one of the biggest cheerleaders and apologists for the Karolyis and their 'tactics.' Mary Lou, Strug, and Zmeskal really.

Yeah, but Moceanu is problematic in her own right. She blames everyone else for her abusive parents... but her parents.

R167, also true. Dominique has had her moments when she's been a hot mess and she's a bit drama-prone.

Moceanu has also spent the last 10 years trying to look like a Kardashian!

The best performance on Rings ever.

Does Mary Lou's pussy stink?

She never has the restraint of a Peggy Fleming or a Dorothy Hamilton.

Gay guys feels so butch mocking a 4'9" woman.

R173 Midgets are immune to criticism, frau?

R169, I haven't really followed Moceanu on social media. How dissappointing if she went the Kardashian route..

[quote]How does she have 65,000 followers?

You know Americans and their thing about TEETH

Mary Lou is loved because she was the best ever Tiny Tim

My pussy stinks!

She has always seemed like a handful to me. I remember reading one of my mom's women's magazines in the 1980s (don't you Mary me, I'll Mary you back, you know you did it too) and there was this "Mary Lou Retton's Morning Exercise Routine" article and she just seemed EXHAUSTING. Her IG looks exactly like I imagined it would.

R179, she does seem exhausting. I wonder why she has a restraining order against her ex-hubster? Doesn't sound like a healthy ending to a 30+ year relationship.

The restraining order was so that he couldn't contact her or the kids in an "offensive," way. He probably called her a cunt like the rest of America.

R181, lol. Truth be told, I'm surprised Mary Lou isn't the one calling him up and harassing him. Can't you just imagine an angry, vengeful, jilted little Mary Lou?

R182, of course she did. She's a Rethug.. they project!

Baywatch was a guilty pleasure of mine back in the 90s. Mary Lou Retton guest starred as herself in episode and it was cringe worthy.

Gymnasts making guest appearances on TV shows is ALWAYS painful.

Ask Julianne McNamara's vagina.

65k isn’t much for a celeb though, some thirst trap Instaho fitness types have several hundred thousand. And of course the Kardashians and Jenners and Cardi B have like 100 million followers

She's a phony!

R136 Marcia Frederick also looked like a man!

R188, poor Marcia Frederick -- she never got over the boycott, did she? To be fair, it really screwed a lot of athletes, including gymnasts like Frederick and Kurt Thomas.

Did Mary Lou fuck Bela Karolyi?

R190, menage a trois with Bela and Marta.