- Gymnastics. Mary Lou Retton and her controversial trainer: Who is the 'ogre' Béla Károlyi?
- Gymnastics. Mary Lou Retton and the question on everyone's mind: Why didn't an Olympic champion have health insurance?
Gymnastics icon Mary Lou Retton's battle against a rare form of pneumonia has experienced a setback, according to a family Instagram post.
Her daughter, Shayla Kelly Schrepfer, explained to followers that the situation seemed to be improving over the weekend but then it took a turn for the worse this week.
The latest updates on Mary Lou Retton's health
Although the post, shared on Wednesday, October 18, didn't detail the exact cause of the setback, it noted that Mary Lou Retton had a "better day" on Wednesday before she ended up extremely exhausted.
"We were so excited, seeing so much progress and then we had a pretty scary setback," Schrepfer said.
"She is still in the ICU, and we're just working through some things as far as her setback goes.
"I just wanted to give an update and thank you guys again for the .
"I'm getting so many messages and emails and it's so great to see people love her."
Mary Lou Retton didn't have health insurance
The family initially turned to public fundraising for her medical expenses, setting a goal of 50,000 dollars, which was far exceeded, with over 450,000 dollars raised as of Wednesday night.
That's because the gymnastics star didn't have health insurance, a fact which surprised a lot of people given Mary Lou Retton's net worth of approximately 2m dollars.
Mary Lou Retton's rise to fame
Retton gained fame and iconic status in 1984 when she became the first American woman gymnast to win gold in the individual all-around competition at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
She won a total of five medals that year, including gold, and shared the title of Sports Illustrated's Sportsperson of the Year with fellow Olympic gold medalist Edwin Moses.
Sports fans across America are, therefore, hoping she can make a full recovery.