Mary Lou: Creating an Olympic Champion

by Mary Lou Retton

The firsthand story of the seventeen-year-old who captured worldwide attention by winning the first American gold medal in women's gymnastics also recounts the life of her defected Romanian coach

Genres: Nonfiction, Sports, Autobiography, Biography

170 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

Mary Lou Retton is an American gymnast. She was the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to win the Olympic all-around title.

Reviews

[Heather Frederick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book to revisit written following Retton's gold metal win at the 1984 Olympics. Decided to read after Karolyi's passing in November 2024. I used to own the book. Wish I had not parted with my copy years ago.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

First sentence: The first time I really began dreaming about the Olympics was in 1976, when Nadia won her three gold medals at Montreal. I was eight years old that summer, and I can remember lying on the living room floor back home in Fairmont, watching the whole thing on television.

Premise/plot: This biography features alternating narratives between Mary Lou Retton and Bela Karolyi. They wrote this biography with John Powers. This book focuses almost exclusively on the sport of gymnastics. Mary Lou's chapters focus on her training and competing. One gets a good sense of the mental and emotional struggles that accompany "becoming" an Olympic champion. Bela's chapters focus on his coaching in Romania and the United States. His narrative goes a bit into politics and why he felt he and his family had to defect from Romania and seek to make America their new home. His personality is a strong one. (So is Mary Lou's, by the way). Both narratives the focus is on working hard all the time and never, ever, ever letting go the fight.

My thoughts: This was one of the books that I checked out from my school library in junior high. I've been watching gymnastics since the late 1980s, and I'm a big, big, big fan of the sport. I've been meaning to reread it for quite a while. I had to interlibrary loan it, but, it was worth it!

[Rachel Goit · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this book. First, the cover does say Mary Lou, but this isn't solely what the book is about. It also includes the story of games Romanian coach, Bela Karolyi. I don't know if he has an autobiography, but this serves as one.
This shows the true trials you have to go through to be an olympian. It shows that sometimes you have to give up the things you enjoy to be great at your passion (I am not good at that at all😂). It was very well written and had Bela's broken english included (as he is not fully American).
This is a book worth spending some time on.

[Anne Copeland · Rating 5 out of 5]

(By Hannah, age 11) This book tells the story of how Mary Lou Retton became an Olympic champion. I love how the book shows what she went through to become that winner in the 1984 summer Olympics. As you read further into the book, you become more interested in how hard she had to work to achieve her goal. This book also tells the story of her coach, Bela Karolyi, and how he came to live in America. I think that this book is amazing, and I definitely recommend that you read this book.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good because I got to Read Mary Lou's story. I was too little to remember this happening. But a lot of the book was a biography on Bela too and I found it annoying. But I guess he wanted everyone to know his background to understand how he came to coach Mary Lou and why he creates so many Olympic champions.

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Story! Easy Read!

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first biography I ever read. Mary Lou Retton was a role model for many girls my age. She's the reason I love to watch gymnastics.

[Sarah Whitten · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Mary Lou: Creating an Olympic Champion" is a biography by Olympic champion Mary Lou Retton. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Retton won gold in the all-around competition. The biography shifts between Mary Lou and he coach, Bela Karolyi as they tell their side of the story. Mary Lou focuses on her training and competing as an Olympic while Bela's story centers around his coaching history in Romania and then moving to the United States. Both Mary Lou and Bela stress the importance of working hard all the time to achieve your goals.
Throughout the book I was able to get a good sense of the emotional and physical preparation needed. The sheer determination of Mary Lou Retton is truly inspiring for both the young and the old. I felt that Bela Karoly's story did not add much to this book. Although at times interesting, I really wanted to hear more about the Olympian (not her coach). Overall, "Mary Lou: Creating an Olympic Champion" was an entirely inspiring and enlightening biography.