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Legendary US Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton is facing charges of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs after she was arrested in her West Virginia hometown earlier this month.
According to court records, Retton was arrested in Fairmount in Marion County on 17 May. She was released the same day after paying a $1,500 bond (£1,100) and has not yet entered a plea.
Retton, 57, shot to global fame after becoming the first American woman to win the all-around gold for gymnastics at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.
Her arrest come almost two years after she survived a rare form of pneumonia.
Retton refused to take a breathalyzer test or blood test after her Texas-registered Porsche was pulled over by police, according to the criminal complaint.
She allegedly failed a sobriety test and was slurring her words. Officers say they observed a container of wine in the car and she smelled of alcohol.
The BBC has contacted the lawyer listed as her representative in the court documents for comment.
Retton is from the city of Fairmount and there is a street there named after her in the northern West Virginia city.
After winning multiple medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Retton was nicknamed "America's Sweetheart". She appeared on Wheaties cereal boxes and was named Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportswoman of the Year.
She was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame in 1997.
In 2022, former gymnast spent nearly two weeks in hospital intensive care after a rare form of pneumonia left the her fighting for her life.
At the time, her daughter posted in an online fundraiser that Retton did not have health insurance and needed money to fund her treatment.
More than $500,000 was raised, leading many to question why the famous athlete was uninsured.
In an NBC interview last year, Retton said she was struggling financially after a divorce in 2018 and the Covid-19 pandemic. She said she was still using supplemental oxygen to breath.
English (US) ·