CBS sportscaster Pat O’Brien interviews USA Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Mary Lou Retton during play at the 1985 NBA All Star game….after she had performed for the crowd at halftime. Pat O’Brien is perhaps best known for his sixteen-year association with CBS Sports….which he joined in 1981….and while at CBS, O’Brien covered the Super Bowl, World Series, NBA Draft, NBA Finals, Winter Olympic Games, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, NCAA Football Championship and the Final Four.
1984 Los Angeles Olympics women’s gymnastics all around gold medalists Mary Lou Retton was inspired by watching Nadia Comăneci outshine defending Olympic two-event winner Olga Korbut on television at the 1976 Montreal Olympics….when she herself was eight years of age….and she took up gymnastics in her hometown of Fairmont….where she was coached by Gary Rafaloski…..when she decided to move to Houston, Texas, to train under Romanians Béla and Márta Károlyi….who had coached Nadia Comăneci before their defection to the United States. Under the Károlyis, Retton soon began to make a name for herself in the U.S….after winning the American Cup in 1983 and placing second to Dianne Durham (another Károlyi student) at the US Nationals that same year. Though Retton missed the World Gymnastics Championships in 1983 due to a wrist injury…. she won the American Classic in 1983 and 1984….as well as Japan’s Chunichi Cup in 1983….before becoming the darling of the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
