Mary Lou Retton - Vault - 1984 Summer Olympic Games

[jd52wtf]

The second she landed she knew she stuck the shit out of it. The scoring was just a formality.

[runr100]

I love how Bela's voice can be heard above everything.

[MrLalol123]

i love dat leo

[DaniloCamargo]

dat was on point

[Y2Jin99]

I was 14 at the time and had such a crush on her. LOL Damn she could run fast!

[uzijohn]

I think Mary Lou's edge (besides Bela) was her strength, she wasn't the slim ballerina type you so often see, she had broad shoulders and as the video shows very strong legs, to this day I haven't seen anyone stick a landing that solid.

[hoopsnyoyo15]

my mother's friend trained with her until she got a knee injury and could no longer compete

[hoopsnyoyo15]

@ImposssibleIsNothing do u wanna stop being a trolling douche?

[TerryVideoDiary]

oh my god..... amazing!!!!

[sexygal17]

*LOVES* IT. xoStephy :P

[waiting4theRapture]

I love Mary Lou. I love the USA.

[alexman9000]

@waiting4theRapture sorry bout ur username...

[mpham1974]

umm...whats so great about that vault?

[gymlovr828]

@mpham1974 In the 80's, that was a reeeeeally difficult skill. since then, more skills have been made with more difficulty. :)

[TheZwinkyStuff]

@mpham1974 She stuck her landing perfectly without any steppes or lunges back or foward... its hard to stick a landing, and she stuck it on both! Just some info :)

[junerose621]

@mpham1974 First off, I am NOT trying to be rude to you at all. You asked a simple question that no one bothered to answer for you. The vault may "look" unimportant or whatever word you want to use, but an athlete has to have tremendous muscle power as well as control with the vault. You have to rocket as fast as you can, come down on that springboard as hard as you can to get as much height as possible very quickly so you can get that one move in and land with grace. It is not easy at all.

[junerose621]

@junerose621 Anyway, I hope maybe that answered your question. It isn't the pretty dance moves combined with acrobatic moves that you see on the floor or the beam or is it the cool moves you see on the uneven bars, but I used to try to beg off doing the vault practice and my coach would not budge. That was many years ago!

[disneynazar]

My goodness! She's amazing. That poor girl in the background just sinks in defeat!

[gymnastagirl141009]

@Stonymypony yes! If you saw on tv they showed him when she landed and he almost shit himself.

[Stonymypony]

Is the guy freaking out in the background her coach?

[spershall]

It was so awesome when things were shot on film.

[MelleAndKev]

@USAGymnast Possibly... but you gotta admit Natalia Yurtchecko was robbed too. She was a much better vaulter than MLR... The USA threw the first punch by boycotting the 80 games.... and it was a shitty thing to do to our athletes who trained for it... It pisses me off to think that the woman who revolutionized the vaulting for both men and women only has an alternate gold medal in the event when it was she who really deserved the Olympic title.

[LukeWhitaker]

epic athletic moment

[barkingtree88]

this is an epic moment.

[sami7798]

What's up with the sad girl did he beat her

[gymbert13]

PERFECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[peskytresky]

Americans are the best!

[blingiton99]

Hahaha She was chewing on her nails. :-)

[schultz970]

I still get choked up when i see this. What a great moment for us.

[beckmoses]

She's my favorite gymnast in the world!!!!

[vontrappster]

her name is mary lou retton

[gymnastbieberfever]

aww poor szabo when mary lou retton barely finished she put her head low cuz she knew it was PERFECT.....mary lou retton is such a great gymnast i love her

[kevindolphan99]

i wish i could of gave her children ,or have fun trying

[bbhouk1]

has anyone else noticed how floor and beam seem to ruin people's dreams but vault and bars seem to make them come true? MLR won on the VAULT

Kerri Strug won for her team on the VAULT

Sveta K.won BARS

Silivas scored ten on BARS in Seoul AA

Nadia scored 1st perfect 10 on BARS

On the other hand: Dawes and Miller in '96 had their dreams ruined on the FLOOR

Moceanu lost her chances on BEAM EF at the 96 olympics and 95 nationals

Sacramone on beam (08 olympics and 04 olympic trials)

[annafire13]

@bbhouk1 But Khorkina lost her chances of winning the AA Olympic Title in 2000 because she fell on bars and vault..

[Chutson353]

Thanks for posting - great to see this in slow-mo - you can really get a feel for the speed, body line, position in the air, height and distance and great landing on this vault.

[bbhouk1]

you know how szabo puts her head down after mary lou's vault?

i think she recognised perfection and was praying the judges didn't

Ha ha im glad mary lou won

[rkyobo]

What a girl!!!!

[sportystephy]

SEX. I friggen' LOVE Mary Lou Retton. Ninjas. xoStephy :P

[bbhouk1]

@sportystephy

lol

completely random...

[tinypeanut021]

It puts a smile on my face, to see how much someone loves gymnastics.

[TwisterFlipp95]

I think it's ridiculous how Karolyi wasn't aloud to come out from behind the photographers spot; don't they have their individual coaches instead of just 1 nowadays anyway? It should've been like that back then as well.

[aussersein]

fake.

[JuiceBocs]

got chills

[dogloverllama]

WHO WON?!

[gymnast6446]

What did Retton score? And what did Szabo score?

[Bluesygal]

@gymnast6446 - Mary Lou was down by 5/100ths of a point going into the last event. Szabo received 9.90 on her last event because Mary Lou needed the perfect 10 to win. Mary Lou Retton won.

[ScRiBbLz193]

@gymnast6446 retton scored a perfect 10 on that vault... idk what szabo scored

[mvf71]

@ScRiBbLz193 she scored 9.90

[SAX713]

in your face ecaterina szabo

[todosobretodo]

I absolutely agree with you 100%! I felt that Szabo rightly deserved golds on the beam and the floor, but there is no way on earth that she should have beaten Mary Lou on the vault!

[todosobretodo]

Although this documentary is depicting Mary Lou's AA win, she is actually the only female gymnast to have ever scored a perfect 10 on the vault in the EFs of the Olympic Games. She went on to win the silver on vault, despite being one of the best vaulters of all time.

[KILLUALL7090]

That book sounds wierd, but i still want him to be my coach

[flip4u02]

little girls in pretty boxes was not based on the karolyis its based on a different coach al fong i bieleve his name is

[katy0131]

those body suits are amaazing lol.

[CharlieHelbert]

ha ha der called leotards :)

[VaveAma92]

Ha! Awesome!

[desorden150]

hahaha. Bela is so funny. I wish he was my coach. It would be a hoot.

[rebchin123]

lol. me to. my team is going to the karoyli gymnastics camp this summer. it's gonna be soo fun

[gymnasticsperfect10]

My friend went to that camp too, is it in Dallas? Houston? somewhere around there? anyways have fun!

[MissyLovelyLady]

I know, Bela makes me laugh so much.

[MisanthropistPro]

In the book I'm reading, it makes Bela seem like a freaking monster, pushing his gymnasts, telling them they were too fat, driving them to eating disorders, etc.

[katiemc66]

Are you talking about the book "Little Girls in Pretty Boxes"? I read that years ago and I have sadly never looked at Bela the same.

[Elemarth]

@desorden150 I think you might change your mind if you had him. Everyone says he's really harsh. But he makes the best gymnasts, and yeah, we all love to watch him.

[111erika111]

ohhhhhhhhh i felt so happy for her shes so baeutifull

[zrcsoccer5]

so cute when she ran in2 bela's arms

[laurenx46]

she's amazing!

[dreamissbehaved]

love bela's reaction!

yes, nadia is the queen. but mary lou is a sweetheart!

[dedeluvsCB]

omg i luv her she is soo good i had meet her at her gym dat she practice!!

[LovesBrooklyn2]

It's cute when their announcing the two girls that it 'came down to'. And MLR's like chewing her nails and the other girls pacing.

Ah...

I found that fun. Okay, my day was made. Thank you for posting.

[brownshugazucar]

Mary Lou Ratton is the perfect gymnast for the USA

Nadia Comaneci is the perfect gymnast for Romania

but

P.S. Nadia Comenaci is the "Queen" of gymnastics!

[Robert111]

I notices over the years that Olympic performances were better in years passed - like the 80s. Same is true for ice skating. Skill level doesn't seem to be the same anymore. It might be because competition from the Soviet Union does not push U.S./other countries.

[RottenRroses]

What is today the perfect score? 17.000?

[hottsexiibabii1]

there is no perfect score anymore because everyone has a different start value. theres a perfect score for your own start value but its different for everyone. its a shame that gymnastics nowadays is nothing like it used to be.

[migueluspa]

do you think the sport has changed because of the new point system? lf M.L.R had todays scoring system, would she still wouldve won in 1984?

[Lucan11]

She's the absolute perfect female athlete.

[steez8]

just watching this video makes you feel good. they oughtta perscribe mary lou tapes to depressives

[rufusbaron]

The little girl who just got silver was supposed to be the next Mary Lou. But there will never be another ML.

[bunnierabbits]

@rufusbaron if you mean shawn johnson? she is far better a gymnast then mary lou ever was.

[ThePingShowJL]

I'm sorry to say I disagree on part of that. FYI, the style and rules of gymnastics were very different then and now. They are quite equal in my opinion.

[iluvkims]

@bunnierabbits Shawn Johnson is a great gymnast but Mary Lou Retton is amazing. They are both great gymnasts.

[Alia89119]

@bunnierabbits NOT

[blinkangels44]

One word.....DETERMINATION .

[stortij]

I am trying to see where this idiot sees a step. You do know she took her second vault after scoring a 10 just to prove it was no acident as she did a perfect 10 on the second as well.

[AustinSportsGuy]

I know where this clip is from! It's from Sports Illustrated's Fabulous Finales! I used to watch this tape over and over again!

That's awesome.

[jsandlin08]

How freakin great was she?! OMG!!! Simply the Best!

[magicpie77]

Mary Lou IS the best. No one compares...even today.

[IntoTheFrenzy89]

...amazing...

[clearancequeenie]

I so remember watching this live. It still tears me up to watch it now. I hope the one of our girls brings home gold tomorrow

[hellsreach]

Gold and Silver!

[rago]

What a moment

[wassup23596]

i didnt know they used a beam in vault

[meagan44440]

thats not a beam

[minileelee07]

GO MARY LOU!!!! That was amazing

[janypany]

is she better than Nadia Elena Comaneci?

[sclerismockrey]

No... I don't think anyone could take the place, in significance if not in outright skill, of Nadia. Who can be Nadia but Nadia? But this was an incredible moment in the history of the sport, and Retton deserved every single accolade she received, as well as her solid place in the history of gymnastics.

[brownshugazucar]

Nadia Comaneci is the "Queen" of gymnastics!

[BellaPelagia]

still makes me tear up when i see it ,, thanks for the memories MLR

[WhitePawPuppy]

She is amazing!

[dreamissbehaved]

talk about delivering in the cluth. wow.

[foldedintobeauty2]

i cried or teared up, rather, lol

[ete4]

Looks pretty perfect to me, but I'm not an expert. I don't see why Bela would have reacted so positively if there had been a step--surely he would have seen it if there was one.

[dAnThEmAn178987]

no, she was just locking her knees it looked like a stepbut it wasnt cuz obviously she scored a 10.000 i love mary lou!

[miu004]

there's no step

[ccservidio]

There's no step.

[495321BA62]

Good for her! She was great, wasn't she? Such a great time.

[meers5]

She takes a slight step, its not a perfect routine.

[fitz394]

She doesn't take a step at all. What the hell are you talking about random internet guy who thinks he's better at judging the Olympics than an Olympic judge.

[meers5]

First of all, im not a guy. Second of all, all you need is vision to see that she takes a slight step. You are totally right though, american judges NEVER fudged the scores in favor of american gymnasts (insert sarcasm). Anyone remember the paul hamm insident?

[assphincter]

You are just mad you are fat and ugly and can't even do a cart wheel. Piss off. This was 24 years ago. Get over it fatty.

[1LooseCannon]

How mature.

[BiracialBabe]

but Americans aren't the only ones who have done this lol

[sclerismockrey]

Of course not, who said otherwise? This was a great moment, is all.

[Hopeace12]

omg i wll never forget this moment i just luv it wen she screams!

[eMthegymnast]

the color on here is amazzzzing!

[kcufmalsi]

For years Soviets injected their she-males with steriods plus God knows what. MLR was a natural.. Good ole American guts and grit.

[blueforare]

Didn't the Soviet Union boycott the Summer Olympics 1984? If so, no wonder MLR won the gold.

[meers5]

all the communist countries did, thats exactly why she won AND it was in los angeles. she didnt stick her landing

[blueforare]

No, not all communist contries. Romania was in the game. Szabo took silver or perhaps she was robbed from the gold.

[meers5]

yes she was robbed.

[vanesaablueyes]

Szabo was totally robbed,but neither her or Retton were as good as Mostepanova!

[meers5]

I agree w you.

[nicaisleain]

I'm so glad to see that people still remember Szabo. MLR might have won the all round individual gold but it was the Romanian team who won gold and Szabo who won individual golds on the floor, beam and vault! MLR was good but Szabo was incredible and remains the outstanding memory of the '84 olympics for me.

[mizzben]

i think it will happen again with nastia or shawn.

[Hopeace12]

yeahh probably

[blueforare]

The winner takes it all!!!

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Mary Lou, I am convinced, is the best tumbler, vaulter, and tumbler in all of women's gymnastics history! She was fearless of that horse! All the other gymnasts kinda slow down so they don't wack themsleves on the vault or something, but Mary Lou ran to it like her life depended on it!

[mzmissa]

The best? Not even close. How can you call her the best, when the Eastern-bloc countries boycotted that Olympics?

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

I said best tumbler and vaulter, not the best. Read carefully.

[bendonna]

no, she pretty much was the best vaulter and tumbler doing things that no one else was doing at that time....it was the other events that would have been heavily challenged by the eastern bloc.  And she probably wouldn't have won had half the world not been there.

[mzmissa]

The best? Not even close. How can you call her the best, when the Eastern-bloc countries boycotted that Olympics?

[blueforare]

You're right!

[TuesdayPillow]

ALL the other gymnasts slow down? I don't know about that. Slowing down at the vault is a sure way to NOT make a high-level vault like a Yurchenko or Tsuk.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

Not really drastically but quite a few do.

[leeleegdl92]

LOL! american girls are so expressive!1 i love it..

[sinjinthule]

MLR got more travel on the vault then any woman I've ever seen and most men. I remember watching her compete this at the LA Games on TV & the announcer mentioned that she usually carried about 22 feet from launch to landing. I've seen a few other tumblers could compete with her on floor in terms of sheer altitude/amplitude (Johnson & Atler rank high on that list), but never on vault. It was the combination of explosiveness, upper-body power & lower body power/speed.

[ursonikki]

i have a feeling this could happen again this year with Shawn Johnson!

[ursonikki]

whoa! i hope i will do that someday. mary lou's a hero!

[thefloacist]

It must be the most amazing feeling to do that and hug your coach out of happiness.

[ralucagymnast]

Amazing-gives me tears in my eyes and chills down my spine, you know you are seeing something very very special here.Ecaterina Szabo's sadness was heartbreaking: she knew that Mary Lou would get the much needed 10 for that vault.

[chevasriegel]

me too! tears and goosebumps.

[QOGFProd]

Mary Lou Retton is the Sweet Revenge Judge

[Sakura4774]

fricken awesome! how old is she now? she must be stumped that girls are still taking her on as inspiration.

[PeteWentzlovsme]

shell be 40 i think

[skatekwan6]

it doesn't look like she stuck the landing

[ralucagymnast]

She did stick the landing. Thats one of the best vaults you will ever see: check out her form in the air, legs glued together so tight, that was a 10 if ever I saw one.More so even than Nadias first 10-she didnt stick her landing on the a-bars or beam. This is a stuck landing.

[sinjinthule]

Like I said, for sheer power, you can't beat MLR on vault.

[meers5]

watch closely, she did NOT stick her landing.

[assphincter]

Who gives a fuck? I just want to stick it in her ass.

[smallvillefreek26]

what the hell dude. show some respect.

[KarenLovesGymnastics]

No, not steroids. More like working out for 8 hours all week.

[bobf4428]

LOL... Bella's screaming is too funny!

[GlobalPoledance]

Back in time, a perfect performance!

[HoneyGotMeHooked]

they handed out 10's like hotcakes. the backlash was, of course, that 10 years later BETTER athletes with BETTER technique on HARDER moves got much lower scores than they deserved.

[hifiami]

really? thats a good point, I never knew that, thanks for the comment.

[cindyirene2001]

they seriously did. and now i wonder, what if they were competeing NOW? what scores would they get?! lol, i doubt perfect 10's now =P

[gymnasticsforever17]

you wanna see perfect 10's like hotcakes?? Check out Silivas and Shushunova in the 1988 Olympics!!! then you'll see hotcakes of 10's!!!

[katiemc66]

Regardless of anything, if you look at MLR's vault, it doesn't get more perfect than that. She deserved that 10.

[Darkangel127]

Actually, if you look close she takes the tiniest hop on the landing. She didn't stick it.

[hindview]

Mary lou,than was grand a perfect ten!

[Moosiemags]

she got the ten right???

[hifiami]

ya, she got the ten, and not only did she get the ten, but she had one vault left, took it, and nailed a perfect ten again!