DESERET NEWS, Aug. 4, 1984: LOS ANGELES -- It was the perfect vault on the last rotation that brought down the house.
But it was the five little hops she did as soon as she had stuck her landing that brought the realization home to Mary Lou Retton. Each was higher than the last until it seemed she would simply take off.Just about everyone else in Pauley Pavilion did.
Retton had needed a 10 to win the gold medal in the Olympic women's all-around gymnastics competition Friday night. And it was obvious even before the score went up that she had gotten it.
When the 10s finally flashed, she bent her head back and shouted at the rafters while her coach, Bela Karolyi, did the final vault of the night, hopping the retaining wall to get onto the floor.
Retton's stellar Olympic performance made her America's woman athlete of the year for 1984.