MEAWW.COM / NEWS / SPORTS

Who are Mary Lou Retton's daughters? Former gymnastics icon 'fighting for her life' as she struggles with pneumonia

Legendary American gymnast Mary Lou Retton has been in the ICU for over a week and her family started a fundraiser for her

HOUSTON, TEXAS: Former Olympic gymnast Mary Lou Retton and her former husband, Longhorns quarterback Shannon Kelly, share four daughters: Shayla Kelley, McKenna Kelley, Skyla Kelley, and Emma Kelley and all of them had been involved in sports, like their mother.

According to Retton's daughter McKenna Lane Kelley's social media post, the legendary gymnast has been hospitalized and is "fighting for her life" as she battles a "very rare form of pneumonia" in an intensive care unit, where she has been for over a week.

McKenna's statement noted, without going into further detail about her mother's condition, that Retton "is not able to breathe on her own," as per Fox News.

Due to her mother's critical condition, McKenna created fundraising on Spotfund to help cover medical costs. The fundraiser already surpassed its target of $50,000, raising $140,685, at the time of writing.

The West Virginia native became the first American woman to ever win the all-around gold medal in Olympic gymnastics with her victory in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Retton, 55, took home five medals from the 1984 Olympics, including two silvers for team and vault and two bronzes for uneven bars and floor exercise.

Retton left the world of professional gymnastics when she was 18 because she "wanted to be remembered as a winner" rather than "some struggling older athlete," per NBC Sports.

Shayla Kelley competed for her college's acrobatic and tumble squad

Shayla, Retton's eldest daughter, is 28 years old. She attended Second Baptist School in Houston before completing club gymnastics programs at Aerial Port Gymnastics from 2009 to 2012 and Stars Houston from 2012 to 2013.

She earned a degree in Health Science from Baylor University in 2017 and spent years on the school's acrobatics and tumble squad.

According to her university biography, in 2016, Shayla qualified for three events and took first place in the individual championships of the National Collegiate Acrobatics and Tumbling Association as a junior.

Shayla, however, stopped tumbling after college, having launched her own YouTube channel in 2015.

Her husband, Wyatt Schrepfer, a fellow Baylor University graduate, as well as her siblings, often appear in the videos she releases about her daily life. The couple got married in January 2020.

McKenna Kelley won her first gymnastics competition at 17

In 2014, McKenna, now 26 and retired, shared the title of co-champion of the Nastia Liukin Cup, an annual event held in the United States and organized by the former Olympic gymnast of the same name.

Later, McKenna continued her gymnastics career at Louisiana State University.

She earned a 9.8875 in the vault event at the NCAA Gymnastics Championship Team Finals during her senior year in 2019. She also achieved a perfect 10 on the floor exercise during a competition with Oregon State University.

Despite having a famous Olympic champion as a parent, McKenna claimed that her mother never pushed her to pursue a career in gymnastics.

She reflected on Retton in 2019 and said, "I don't think I understood the enormity of what she did and the groundbreaking gymnastics she did at the time. To me, she's just mom," per TODAY.

After finishing college, McKenna quit gymnastics but she continued to co-host the women's gymnastics tour 'For Mothers and Daughters Forever Our Legacy' with her mother Retton.

McKenna earlier told the LSU magazine Tiger Rag that she and her siblings were never compelled to carry on with gymnastics if they didn't want to.

Skyla Kelley was an avid cheerleader

Skyla Kelley, a 23-year-old Texas Tech University graduate, is the third daughter of Retton and Shannon Kelly.

She did not compete much in collegiate gymnastics, compared to her older sisters. She did, however, participate in gymnastics as a child, beginning at 3.

Skyla spent her four years of high school cheerleading rather than pursuing gymnastics. According to Yahoo, she also competed in several cheerleading events.

She may not have the same sporting preferences as her family, but they are nonetheless close.

Skyla previously posted a picture of herself, her sisters, and their matching jammies on Instagram. She also frequently talks about her parents.

Emma Kelley is a budding freshman gymnast at her college

The youngest of Retton's daughters, 21-year-old Emma, has competed at level 10 since the beginning of 2016 and is a gymnast from Fun & Fitness Gymnastics in Richmond, Texas.

She did achieve some outstanding results on the mat in high school.

According to her university biography, Emma placed fourth at the Texas State Championship in 2016 with scores of 9.8 in the vault and 9.675 in the floor exercise.

She also participated in two competitions in 2019, at the Star Struck Invitational and the Kurt Thomas Invitational.

Despite her daughters' achievements in their sporting endeavors, Retton has stated that her greatest priority is their happiness.

She told Parade in 2016, "My role is to love them no matter what, have that shoulder for them to cry on if they're hurt or frustrated."