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1968-
First American woman to win Olympic gold in gymnastics

Even Retton's smile was a winner.  Heinz Kluetmeier

With one powerful, full-twisting layout double Tsukahara, gymnast Mary Lou Retton vaulted into the national consciousness. If her golden moment at the 1984 Olympics were a baseball plot, the script would have read: bottom-of-the-ninth, down-by-three, bases loaded. Except in this case a single wouldn't do. Trailing the favorite and "clubhouse leader" Ekaterina Szabo by .05 points in the all-around competition, Retton needed a home run in her final event to strike gold. So, in front of a packed Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles, the 16-year-old charged down the runway, sprung her 4' 9", 92-pound frame into the air and touched down an Olympic champion, earning unanimous perfect scores and sticking a landing in our hearts. The instant was actually years in the making -- the product of Retton's dogged determination and long hours under the watchful, demanding eye of coach Bela Karolyi. Retton had perfected a vault -- in front of the world, no less -- that no other woman had ever attempted in competition, and became the first American woman to win a medal of any kind in gymnastics. Retton's Olympic performance made her America's Sweetheart. She landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated (and earned SI co-Sportsman of the Year honors), on a Wheaties box and on almost any television show she could fit into her schedule. At the Los Angeles Games, Retton also picked up a silver in both the individual vault and team competition, and a bronze in both the floor exercise and uneven bars, for a total of five gold medals in 1984.

They said it: "As the pressure gets greater, Mary Lou gets greater." -- former U.S. women's team coach Don Peters

--Jamie MacDonald

Athletes were selected by Sports Illustrated For Women, Sports Illustrated and CNN/SI editors, writers and correspondents who considered the athletes' on-field performance and achievements, plus their contributions to women's sports. Because athletic achievement was a key criterion, women whose contributions were made solely in administration and coaching are not included.

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