Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died.

Olympic gymnastics great Mary Lou Retton says she faces a long battle recuperating at home from a rare form of pneumonia in which doctors weren’t sure whether she would survive.

American gymnastics legend Mary Lou Retton says she is “overwhelmed with all the love and support” she has received and is slowly recovering with family after being hospitalized with a rare form of pneumonia earlier this month.

The family of Olympic gymnastics champion Mary Lou Retton says she is making “remarkable” progress in her battle with a rare form of pneumonia.

The family of Olympic gymnastics champion Mary Lou Retton says she is “continuing to fight.”.

Olympic gymnastics champion Mary Lou Retton has pneumonia and is in intensive care in a Texas hospital.

Durham, the first Black woman to win a USA Gymnastics national championship, died on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, She was 52. (AP Photo/Lisa Genesen, File)Dianne Durham, the first Black woman to win a USA Gymnastics national championship, died Thursday in Chicago following a short illness, her husband said. Her victory in the all-around at the 1983 national championships as a teenager was the first by a Black woman in the organization's history. “People said, you’re the first Black — I’m using Black because African American wasn’t a term in my era — national champion. Her husband said he hopes USA Gymnastics will honor her by inducting her into the organization's Hall of Fame.

1984: Mary Lou Retton wins a gold medal in the all-around gymnastics competition at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, becoming the first female gymnast from outside Eastern Europe to do so. She went on to win four additional medals in Los Angeles: silver in the team competition and the horse vault, and bronze in the floor exercise and uneven bars. Hide Caption