FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) — Olympic gold medalist Mary Lou Retton refused a breathalyzer test after being pulled over for allegedly drinking and driving in Fairmont, West Virginia, earlier this month, according to a criminal complaint.
Mary Lou Retton, who is listed as Retton-Kelly in the criminal complaint obtained by Nexstar’s WBOY on Tuesday, was arrested on May 17 after a reckless driver was reported on the Gateway Connector in Fairmont.
Retton was allegedly “driving all over the roadway” heading toward downtown before she pulled into the parking lot at AutoZone in her Texas-registered Porsche, the complaint said.
When officers with the Fairmont Police Department made contact with Retton, “the odor of alcohol was emitting from her person,” and officers said she was slurring her words. Officers also noticed a “screw top container of wine” in the passenger seat of Retton’s vehicle, the complaint said.
Mary Lou Retton arrested for DUI in West Virginia
According to the complaint, Retton showed signs of impairment on all three phases of a field sobriety test; she refused a breathalyzer test and a chemical blood test, officers said. She was charged with first-offense DUI and posted a $1,500 personal recognizance bond.
Retton, who became the first American woman to win Olympic gold in all-around gymnastics in 1984, is originally from Fairmont and has a street in the city named after her. She made headlines in 2023 after she contracted a rare form of pneumonia and was in an intensive care unit in Texas for several weeks. Since then, she has spoken publicly about her health problems and the backlash she received from a crowdfunding campaign to help with her medical expenses that raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.