Sampurna Pal is a Primary editor for the Olympics Sports division at EssentiallySports. Her writing navigates through the world of gymnastics, equestrian sports, and alpine skiing. With over 2 years of experience editing and publishing sports content, she brings valuable insights to the EssentiallySports editorial desk. 
While making sure that editorial best practices are in check, Sampurna covered three prime events - the 2023/24 FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup, New Balance Indoor Grand Prix, and the 2024 Olympic Marathon trials.
When not editing the next viral story, she finds solace in photography, cooking, and teaching. These passions allow her to bring color, movement, and vision to the sports content she edits.

“My amazing mom, Mary Lou, has a very rare form of pneumonia and is fighting for her life,” shared McKenna Kelley back in October as her Olympian mother, the iconic Mary Lou Retton [https://www.essentiallysports.com/tag/mary-lou-retton/], battled for her life in the ICU. Three months later, with help from over 8,000 donors and nearly half a million dollars raised, the icon who faced a near-death scare is making a remarkable comeback and regaining her health. As the new year began, Mary Lou, America’s first woman to win the all-around gold medal in Olympic [https://www.essentiallysports.com/tag/gymnastics-tokyo-olympics-2020-2021/] gymnastics [https://www.essentiallysports.com/category/gymnastics-2/gymnastics/], even opened up about the grueling ordeal she endured. But despite a massive recovery, she revealed that she was still in the clutches of the rare pneumonia that shook her world. MARY LOU RETTON STILL GRAPPLES WITH THE AFTERMATH OF HER RARE PNEUMONIA In an exclusive interview with TODAY’s Hoda Kotb, accompanied by her daughter Shayla Schrepfer, Mary Lou Retton described the horrifying moment the rare pneumonia left her on her bedroom floor all alone, grappling for oxygen. Her declining health even left the doctors conflicted and confused. Mary Lou Retton explained to the esteemed host how the medical team even discussed putting her on a ventilator due to her condition. But, being the fighter she is, she slowly but surely managed to make a stellar recovery after struggling for nearly a month in the hospital. But what stood out in the interview was a moment when the icon shared that despite making a massive recovery, she still struggled to “take that big deep breath. Couldn’t do it. Still can’t,” demonstrating her struggle to inhale deeply. In the interview, her candid confessions also led her to reveal the dark doubts she faced, moving even interviewer Hoda Kotb to tears. THE DOUBTS THE ICON FACED AS A FORMER ATHLETE Back in October 2023, when Mary Lou’s critical condition was revealed, what stood out for countless fans was when her daughter started a crowdfund as she shared that the gymnast did not have health insurance. This act rallied the gymnastics community and countless fans [https://www.essentiallysports.com/us-sports-news-olympics-news-gymnastics-news-in-my-thoughts-prayers-as-mary-lou-continues-to-fight-for-life-former-olympians-heartfelt-message-for-the-legendary-gymnast-goes-viral/] as the donations surpassed the initial goal of $50,000 by garnering nearly $460,000 in donations. [https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/Mary-Lou-Retton.jpg] Read more: Despite Struggling on Life-Support, This Is How Mary Lou Retton Fans Will Always Remember Her [https://www.essentiallysports.com/us-sports-news-olympics-news-gymnastics-news-despite-struggling-on-life-support-this-is-how-mary-lou-retton-fans-will-always-remember-her/] Reflecting on the love, Mary Lou tugged at fans’ and Hoda Kotb’s heartstrings as she said, “I just thought I was a washed-up old athlete, but the love was just—it touched me.” As the former Olympian continues her recovery, fans eagerly anticipate more positive updates from this legendary figure, celebrating the icon she is. MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY [https://www.essentiallysports.com/stories/us-sports-news-simone-biles-beyond-twisties-the-untold-story-behind-her-mental-health-advocacy/] 

Three months after facing near death condition, Mary Lou Retton opens up about the continued struggles of her rare pneumonia. 

Christaline Meyers is a senior Olympics writer at EssentiallySports who
specializes in gymnastics and alpine skiing. Christaline is one of the acclaimed
authorities in the coverage of 6x All-Around champion, Simone Biles. She has
written extensively, covering every detail of Biles’s life stories as well as
providing her perspective on Simone Biles’ Yurchenko Double Pike controversy.
Beyond the gymnastics realm, Christaline also takes an avid interest in the
development of the on-field rivalry between Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova in
the snow-covered alps. When away from the ES Desk, she can be found meditating
and listening to music.

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Gymnastics is a collection of physical exercises requiring a lot of strength, agility, balance, and flexibility. It is closely related to circus performing skills as athletes put their bodies to the fullest use. Likewise, there are various disciplines for gymnasts to showcase their talents. Thus, it evolved from ancient Greeks that included skills to mounting to dismounting a horse. The competitive form of gymnastics is called artistic gymnastics. It involves various events for women like the floor, vault, uneven bars, and the beam. For men, they have floor, vault, rings, pommel horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bars. Therefore, the sport is famous for its aesthetic values and the Olympics draws major crowds to the gymnastics arena.

[caption id="attachment_996875" align="aligncenter" width="1920"]<img class="wp-image-996875 size-full" src="https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/GettyImages-1342598189.jpg" alt="Simone Biles" width="1920" height="1281" /> LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 25: Simone Biles performs during the Gold Over America Tour at Staples Center on September 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images)[/caption]
<h3>History of Gymnastics</h3>
Gymnastics originated from the Greek term, 'to exercise naked,' applied in ancient Greece exercises. These exercises became a mainstay at the Olympics but most of the competition came from ancient roots. There are stone engravings found in Shandong province during <a href="https://www.britannica.com/sports/gymnastics/Gymnasts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the Han Period</a> (206?<span class="text-smallcaps">BCE</span>?220?<span class="text-smallcaps">CE) where they portrayed acrobatics. Like every sport, the person credited for making the sport famous was Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, founder of the Turnverein movement as he helped to spread gymnastics across the world. </span>

<span class="text-smallcaps">Most of the exercises were conducted on the playground. Therefore, various events came into existence. They held the first Gymnastics festival in 1860 in Coburg. The Americans were introduced to Gymnastics in the late 1820s while the Federation Internationale Gymnastique was founded in 1881 to organize the event. The 1896 Olympic Games saw the starting stages of gymnastics being introduced to the world.?</span>
<h3>The Sport</h3>
There are three divisions of artistic gymnastics- artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline. There are six <a href="https://completegymnastics.com/gymnastics-disciplines-explained/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">events</a> for men and the all around event where they combine scores from every discipline. For women, there are four exercises and a similar all around event, both team and individual events. Apart from artistic gymnastics, there is rhythmic gymnastics and is practiced only by women. Trampoline is the other discipline of gymnastics and introduced itself at the 2000 Olympic Games. As years pass by, various gymnasts showcased their athletic skills to the masses in attendance.

[caption id="attachment_1074502" align="alignnone" width="473"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-1074502" src="https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/GettyImages-1332096751-473x315.jpg" alt="simone biles" width="473" height="315" /> TOKYO, JAPAN - AUGUST 03: Simone Biles of Team United States competes in the Women's Balance Beam Final on day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on August 03, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)[/caption]
<h3>Famous gymnasts in the world</h3>
<strong>Simone Biles:</strong>

In terms of pure dominance, Simone Biles enters the list as arguably the greatest gymnast of all time. She is the <a href="https://www.rookieroad.com/gymnastics/top-6-best-womens-players-of-all-time/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most decorated</a> gymnast in the World Championships, winning four gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. The 2016 Rio Olympics saw her winning four gold medals and completely dominated the events. She has 25 World Championships medals to her name and her stance on mental health helps her become an influential person in the society.

<strong>Larisa Latynina:</strong>

Winning nine gold medals at the Olympics is astonishing and Larisa Latynina ranks on top of the famous gymnast charts. After Michael Phelps, she has the most Olympic medals with 18. She popularized the sport of gymnastics and was the first star in the sport. Her iconic performances will go down to the gymnastics folklore.

[caption id="attachment_688263" align="aligncenter" width="1920"]<img class="wp-image-688263 size-full" src="https://image-cdn.essentiallysports.com/wp-content/uploads/GettyImages-640615533.jpg" alt="" width="1920" height="1293" /> Nadia Comaneci of Romania performs her routine on the Balance Beam during the Women's ArtisticTeam all-around event on 19 July 1976 during the XXI Olympic Summer Games at the Montreal Forum, Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Don Morley/Getty Images) )[/caption]

<strong>Nadia Comaneci:</strong>

Achieving a perfect 10.0 score in gymnastics is amazing. But, doing it at the Olympics, when just turning 14, placed Nadia Comaneci amongst the pantheon of greats. The 1976 Olympics saw her earning seven perfect scores. She won five Olympic gold medals out of the nine she won.

<strong>Svetlana Khorkina:</strong>

With a total of 47 Olympic, World and European Championships medals, Svetlana Khorkina is a remarkable gymnast. She became the first gymnast to win three all-around titles at the World Championships while winning five gold medals in the uneven bars at World Championships. Her success in the uneven bars earned her the moniker 'The Queen of Bars.'

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Gymnastics

Gymnastics is a collection of physical exercises requiring a lot of strength, agility, balance, and flexibility. It is closely related to circus performing skills as athletes put their bodies to the fullest use. Likewise, there are various disciplines for gymnasts to showcase their talents. Thus, it evolved from ancient Greeks that included skills to mounting to dismounting a horse. The competitive form of gymnastics is called artistic gymnastics. It involves various events for women like the floor, vault, uneven bars, and the beam. For men, they have floor, vault, rings, pommel horse, parallel bars, and horizontal bars. Therefore, the sport is famous for its aesthetic values and the Olympics draws major crowds to the gymnastics arena. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA &#8211; SEPTEMBER 25: Simone Biles performs during the Gold Over America Tour at Staples Center on September 25, 2021 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Katharine Lotze/Getty Images) History of Gymnastics Gymnastics originated from the Greek term, &#8216;to exercise naked,&#8217; applied in ancient Greece exercises. These exercises became a mainstay at the Olympics but most of the competition came from ancient roots. There are stone engravings found in Shandong province during the Han Period (206?BCE?220?CE) where they portrayed acrobatics. Like every sport, the person credited for making the sport famous was Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, founder of the Turnverein movement as he helped to spread gymnastics across the world. Most of the exercises were conducted on the playground. Therefore, various events came into existence. They held the first Gymnastics festival in 1860 in Coburg. The Americans were introduced to Gymnastics in the late 1820s while the Federation Internationale Gymnastique was founded in 1881 to organize the event. The 1896 Olympic Games saw the starting stages of gymnastics being introduced to the world.? The Sport There are three divisions of artistic gymnastics- artistic, rhythmic, and trampoline. There are six events for men and the all around event where they combine scores from every discipline. For women, there are four exercises and a similar all around event, both team and individual events. Apart from artistic gymnastics, there is rhythmic gymnastics and is practiced only by women. Trampoline is the other discipline of gymnastics and introduced itself at the 2000 Olympic Games. As years pass by, various gymnasts showcased their athletic skills to the masses in attendance. TOKYO, JAPAN &#8211; AUGUST 03: Simone Biles of Team United States competes in the Women&#8217;s Balance Beam Final on day eleven of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Ariake Gymnastics Centre on August 03, 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) Famous gymnasts in the world Simone Biles: In terms of pure dominance, Simone Biles enters the list as arguably the greatest gymnast of all time. She is the most decorated gymnast in the World Championships, winning four gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. The 2016 Rio Olympics saw her winning four gold medals and completely dominated the events. She has 25 World Championships medals to her name and her stance on mental health helps her become an influential person in the society. Larisa Latynina: Winning nine gold medals at the Olympics is astonishing and Larisa Latynina ranks on top of the famous gymnast charts. After Michael Phelps, she has the most Olympic medals with 18. She popularized the sport of gymnastics and was the first star in the sport. Her iconic performances will go down to the gymnastics folklore. Nadia Comaneci of Romania performs her routine on the Balance Beam during the Women&#8217;s ArtisticTeam all-around event on 19 July 1976 during the XXI Olympic Summer Games at the Montreal Forum, Montreal, Canada. (Photo by Don Morley/Getty Images) ) Nadia Comaneci: Achieving a perfect 10.0 score in gymnastics is amazing. But, doing it at the Olympics, when just turning 14, placed Nadia Comaneci amongst the pantheon of greats. The 1976 Olympics saw her earning seven perfect scores. She won five Olympic gold medals out of the nine she won. Svetlana Khorkina: With a total of 47 Olympic, World and European Championships medals, Svetlana Khorkina is a remarkable gymnast. She became the first gymnast to win three all-around titles at the World Championships while winning five gold medals in the uneven bars at World Championships. Her success in the uneven bars earned her the moniker &#8216;The Queen of Bars.&#8217; &nbsp; &nbsp;

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“Still Can’t…”: Despite Surviving Death, Mary Lou Retton Still Caught in Grips of Rare Pneumonia

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Mary Lou Retton still grapples with the aftermath of her rare pneumonia

The doubts the icon faced as a former athlete