16 days of glory - Mary Lou Retton - part 2

[ejr1636]

1980 was US Hockey, 84 was all Mary Lou. Awesome

[padrejohn1971]

I eat my wheaties out of Mary Lou's box!

[markguest36]

fix! where would she av placed if the east germans and soviets had been there?

[NDBCdancer]

I don't see how anyone can say that one of the gymnasts is better than the other, Szabo and Retton, I mean. They are so immensly different AND talented I find it shocking that someone could reach a coclusion as to who is better.

[martinl19]

@NDBCdancer they can only "compare" in such a way, cause (unlike you and I) they see gymnasts as athletes alone, not as (somewhat) artists!

[bigken61]

I remember this like it was yesterday. Mind blowing. Thanks for posting this. Marylou is a REAL role-model. Not like the "athletes" of today.

[EuropeanGuy87]

It;s virtually almost impossible.. to set yourself the idea "I need a perfect 10 to win this competition" but she nailed it.. I can't believe it.. good job Marie Lou

[artysmokes]

Over the course of the competition, Szabo was actually the better all-round gymnast (albeit slightly), but you've got to give Retton credit. She absolutely nailed that vault. It couldn't have got anything but a perfect 10.

[MelleAndKev]

@artysmokes I agree that Szabo was a better all around gymnast (they're both great though) but I think MLR is a superior vaulter... I would have awarded the vault title to MLR... Szabo's landings were kind of cowboyed....

[itsallme73]

I LOVVVEEEE Mary Lou Retton! I was 11....I pretended I was her ALL THE TIME!!!!! My best when I was in gymnastics was VAULT! I wasnt very good at all the other stuff.....but you know what? (and perhaps why I like my callusses so much from the deadlifts today???) when I did the uneven bars, at 11 years old, my hands would get shredded and callussed, like now! When I do deadlifts! I was a junior in training for you Chris!

[cwinifredg]

Love the look of Szabo when she landed that vault. She was like, oh f@#$ !!! I just got beat. Retton't floor routine is at least as difficult as most floors today, and it was 27 yrs ago. It is rare to see a perfect double back layoutlike that that today. And I hate how it seems all vaults start with a roundoff, robbing them of the power of Retton's kind of vault. And the scoring system is way to complex for the avg. fan to follow, so the ratings are wayyyyy down.

[JonnyTainment]

Seeing her in her victory run after that 10 on the vault still brings a smile to my face.

As for the penalty, no way they could do that with thousands of screaming Americans.

[Sara4Fergie]

Mary Lou had a perfect landing! That was text book perfect. Couldn't have been more perfect if she tried.

[uzijohn]

@Sara4Fergie,

The Romanian girls despair at frame 4:46 tells the whole story, when your toughest rival thinks it was "that good" it probably was

[muzicluver214]

@Sara4Fergie agreed! 

[MTVMANN]

FOR HARDCORE GYMNASTICS FANS!

Isn't Szabo vault shown on this documentary her "2nd" vault from the EF's? I do believe she was doing the piked position, and this showed her to use a tucked position.

[mlc2005]

Not only that, but to me, the only routine that received a 10 when it shouldn't at these Olympics was Kat's beam routine. If you see part 1, she clearly has a huge hop on the dismount. That seems to be overlooked by people. Both are incredible gymnasts.

[runswimchick10]

Hey, did you guys know that Mary Lou's vault was so difficult it was actually worth a 10.2??? So even with form breaks, she could still get a 10. It's amazing how much scoring has changed....people who are used to today's system and the time of the mag 7 shouldn't dictate what is a fair score and what is not.

[gymnast937]

@runswimchick10

I believe that! because although gymnastics was hard, it wasnt as advanced as it is now... but, it was still a perfect vault. i bet she would have gotten that 10.2 if you could go that high :p

[thegymnasticsgirl200]

Did you know she would not get that scorr now!

Sorry for the bad spelling!

[axxess0429]

one more thing, if this video documentary were to be emaked, please include the performance of the 1984 Basketball team, please...? thanks again...

[cherylannemason]

Say what you will about the judging--then look at Kati Szabo's reaction when Mary Lou landed the vault. Looks to me like someone who knew perfection when she saw it--and lest anyone forget, Mary Lou's second vault also scored a 10--no fluke there!

[bluedevilfan4]

Its great after 25 years that ther would still be this much talk  about the vault heard around the world makinfg Mary Lou the first american gymnast to win the gold. That has to show you something that she is one of the greatest and to make olympic history for the americans thats outstanding.

[smartabarn]

wow, 2 10:s!!!!! :D

[ItsMeForAllYouKnow]

I just love how people from around the globe continue to try and insult Americans by trying to allude the U.S. somehow rigged the judges results. I hope you realize that you insult yourself and the countries the judges represented as well. This wasn't a panel of Americans. The judges were from all parts of planet Earth. So, if you believe they were bribed, or whatever, that doesn't exactly speak well of their character. After all, what is worse.....attempting to bribe, or accepting?

[Anax68]

Well I guess that this will still be controversial in the coming years along with the 1980 Olympics. Unfortainately both will be tainted with the "boycotts" . and nobody will ever be satisfied with the results. But I do agree with "nidorecall" ( 3 comments below). I think both Olympics were over scored ( even in men performances). It seemed like even with big stumbles, perfection could be achieved!!! Maybe there was no judge bribing at all, but in some ways it seemed like there was!!!

[NJNupe1911]

I agree with you, looking at some of the forms breaks and scoring the 1984 Olympics could go down as one of the most OVER SCORED gymnastics meets in history.

[lostlyrarose]

@ItsMeForAllYouKnow the score was fair. that's why szabo hangs her head down right after. she knows it deserved the 10.00. especially by scoring standards back then, that score was more than fair.

[muzicluver214]

@ItsMeForAllYouKnow one of the judges was bela's former student dont these people think that if it was some how rigged it wouldnt be in favor of us Americans?

[jennyboom]

@ItsMeForAllYouKnow Murica! FUCK YEAH

[bluedevilfan4]

Mary Lou Retton desevered the gold in the all-around she did the best performance of her life when she did the vault. Mary Lou made history and still to this day its so profound to watch. Would anyone know if theres still an original wheaties box with Mary Lou on it?

[mka800]

Shit, this is worse than the Van Halen videos where everybody starts fighting about who's best - Roth or Hagar.

[nidorecall]

I do, without a shadow of a doubt, believe that mary lou retton fully deserved to win the gold. she was simply the best with performing skills that over twenty years later are still being used to win olympic championships(a double layout in the eighties.....crazy stuff!) and she had showmanship. What I do believe is truly controversal is the over generous scoring! I mean really....she scored a ten on floor for that HUUUGE hop forward on the double back and slight bobble balance after front tuck

[schs1977]

Mary Lou Retton- Not bad for a little girl from Fairmont, West Virginia, USA

[palou411]

WTF is Bela saying on 3:17, is the funniest thing ever!!!!

[littlegreekboy]

He is saying "Panda" multiple times. It was his nickname for her.

[JonnyTainment]

@palou411 Panda, Panda Panda. He always called Mary Lou his 'Panda Bear'

[tammy842]

"Gotta be?" This scoring is so messed up!

[ApolytonGP]

That vault is incredible. Even nowadays. That HUGE distance. Love the full speed run. Today's gymnasts need to take a look at MLR.

[palou411]

I don't give a damn rat ass what everybody says, Mary Lou Rotten EARNED her gold, this was awesome, and we should celebrate athletes achivements by giving them a salary, it's about time for our country to promote something positive rather than just bailing banks and big auto companies!!!

[YouFriller]

Come on! How political was this? I not saying that Retton shouldn't have won, she was amazing, but these games were all about politics.

[aliana27ro]

Retton wasn't better than Szabo, but Karoly's propaganda was... She is a great gymnast , but Szabo should win

[alinutza24]

how funny Retton's floor music is an old romanian song Sanie cu zurgalai,i think Ecaterina Szabo should have won this one,but congrats to the winner Retton

[hwhap13]

What a pile of propaganda material this video is!!! That was one of the biggest injustices in gymnastics history. Only worse was the case in Moscow 1980 when Davydova was promoted winner to Comaneci. Poor Ekatarina Szabo :(

[mnixnonn]

It's not propaganda!!! It documents a very close competition between two amazing competitors; and it highlights a great performance by Mary Lou Retton. Even Szabo recognized it; look at her reaction after Mary Lou completes her vault (4:49 into the video). There was no injustice. Two great athletes competed, and gave incredible performances. The scoring by the judges acknowleged just how close it was; but in sports there can only be one winner, and that was Mary Lou Retton. So get over it.

[hwhap13]

But OF COURSE we're all so over it! ;)

4 years earlier (in 1980) Romania sent its gymnasts to be humiliated by the judges when they gave the gold AA medal to Davydova instead of Comaneci.

In LA it was the mirror image, but this time Cathy Szabo got screwed up.

At least Davydova did make some splash at the worlds a few years around the Olympics in Moscow, while Retton was horrid all the time.

Nice little career she's had, eh?! (based on propaganda and NOT on her gymnastic skills)

[mnixnonn]

At the 1984 Olympics, Mary Lou Retton was not being judged on her "nice little career." She was being judged on her gymnastic skills at that competition - which was better than her competitors. And yes, 24 years later, most people are over it - except for you OF COURSE! ;)

[hwhap13]

MLR -a.k.a. Mary Fluke- is the most overrated gymnast ever. In a big picture even Davydova was a better gymnast.

[mnixnonn]

But in the small "picture" - i.e. the 1984 Olympics - MLR was better, and that is all that matters. Today MLR is sitting at home with the prestigious gold medal on her mantel, and your sitting at home crying about it.

[hwhap13]

(1) she was NOT better - she was handed the gold medal for non-gymmnastics reasons;

(2) I am merely puting an asterisk on her name because we DO NOT WANT this to happen again --> history DOES/SHOULD teach us a lesson;

(3) MLR is the American counterpart of the Soviet baby, Elena Davydova, and they are both equally laughable Olympic champions;

(4) You are right though that they are both Olympic champions (I only add : "by crook" t that :)

[mnixnonn]

"She was handed the gold medal for non-gymmnastic reason" - That's conjecture. She gave a great performance, so did Szabo. The gold medal wasn't given - it was earned.

"We DO NOT WANT this to happen gain" - Anytime athletes give great performances and the outcome is decided by judges, there is going to be controversy. There are far worse decisions to cite.

"laughable Olympic champions" -

To disagree with the judging is one thing, but to disparage them, is as arrogant as it is ignorant;)

[hwhap13]

Of course there will always be controversy, but some are legitimate and some are not. Did Tatiana Gutsu deserve her olympic gold. YES she did, because she did what she had to while the others had errors. Here it's a different story. One gymnast (Retton and/or Davydova) were given a gold medal because of the URSS/USA hosting the Olympics. Their records --apart from these Olympics-- only confirm that, esp. with respect to the gymnasts who were screwed up by the "judges" (Szabo/Comaneci).

[mnixnonn]

The controversy in this case is "legitimate." Illegitimacy at the games would be would be something to the effect of the controversial boxing decision at the 1988 Seoul games, where Jones Jr. beat-up Park Si-Hun, but still lost the decision.

You are hung up on their records and the "URSS/USA" hosting, which is leading you to put forth this conspiracy. But clearly it was a great performance by both - far greater than anything we saw at the most recent Olympics.

[hwhap13]

From today's perspective this all looks benign. At the it was really bad. Plus the Romanians came to the LA Olympics in spite of the Eastern block boycot => instead of being extra-"nice" to them, Szabo got screwed up thanks to the first big gym-media-hype; The Olympics were there just to promote the American sweet-heart to an Olymp.champ.

Similar goes for the Soviet equivalent E.Davydova (although no media hype in URSS at that time).

(( And we can go on like this ad vitam aeternam :-) ))

[mnixnonn]

"Szabo got screwed up thanks to the first big gym-media-hype"

- Again, this is all part of your specious conspiracy to deride "the American sweet-heart" of winning the gold. The bottom-line is: Retton would have never even been considered for the gold had she not delivered a great performance - which she did. So we can go like this ad vitam aeternam :-) ))

[msalasan]

she had a great performance, but even her bigger fan ever cannot say that floor routine deserved a 10.

[blazing64]

I dunno what to say, that was a one in a million shot...

[aileenpio]

Thank you! I've read about the Retton-Szabo rivalry, but I've never seen Szabo in action. I am so stoked!

[iluvtigers77]

Why did Bela leave Romania. Was it on bad terms? How is his relationship with Nadia?

[dreamissbehaved]

he and martha were felt like they were being betrayed by the romanian gov. all their gymnasts were being taken away from them, funding had stopped, they were "monitoring" his every move, etc.

nadia and bela very split for awhile, but now there friendly.

[AnaCiubotaru]

If still in any doubt about this all, just listen to Maria Lataretu- Sanie cu zurgalai

[AnaCiubotaru]

Why hasn't anybody noted that Mary Lou performs her routine to ROMANIAN folk music? She won the Olympics with a 10 on floor performed to Romanian music, under the direction of a Romanian coach and a Romanian choreographer.

[NYCBlonde]

Well, she actually won with her 10 on vault not with her floor routine but I take your point :) And yes, undoubtedly the Romanian influence on American gymnastics, as filtered through Romanian emigres, has been significant. Bela and Marta alone have been a huge influence.

[AnaCiubotaru]

I get the feeling the floor routine had been choreographed by Geza Poszar, another Romanian expat and long time collaborator of Bela Karolyi. Doesn't this make you think Romanians had a huge impact on the first Olympic gold of the US gymnastics team and they still do nowadays? Would the US gymnastics be standing so tall nowadays without the imported Romanian know-how?

[brookenicole222]

LOL @ Bela. Wow, he talks way too much. Poor Mary Lou is like "okay....okay...okay..."

[gropious3]

Looks like it. Sadly, the fact that he jumped over the wall cost the kids of 88 their medal. The official reason was because one of the athletes was still on then podium during a bar routine of a different teamate but it was really a punishment for him jumping the wall in 84 to congratulate her.

[tonyhawkwiz]

bela karolyi seems very empowering