Olympic legend Mary Lou Retton’s shocking mugshot and DUI arrest footage released

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Mary Lou Retton appeared to be anything but a sweetheart during her DUI arrest earlier this year.

The U.S. Olympic gymnastics legend, nicknamed “America’s Sweetheart,” was abrasive towards police officers and failed three field sobriety tests, as seen in bodycam footage released earlier this week.

Retton also appeared disheveled and on the verge of tears in a mugshot taken at the police station, which also was released on Tuesday.

In the footage taken in the parking lot of a West Virginia auto repair chain, Retton is heard repeatedly saying “oh, come on,” as an officer attempts to administer the tests.

First, the gold-medal winner fails to keep her head from moving side to side while following the officer’s finger – all while she is grinning widely.

“You’re making me feel like I’m … I see it,” Retton said as the officer instructed her to focus.

Retton also bizarrely complimented the officer, saying “I see it, I see it, I see it. I’m looking at your beautiful blue eyes.”

Next, the officer jokes that Retton “should be pretty good at this” when asking the gymnastics great to walk a straight line.

The 57-year-old replied: “Yeah, I mean upside down.”

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After the officer asked Retton to keep her hands at her side while walking heel-to-toe, she retorted “I’m an Olympic gold medalist.”

After officers notified Retton that she had failed the field tests – and she refused a breathalyzer – the former athlete continued to claim that she wasn’t intoxicated and then struggled as the cops tried to place her in handcuffs.

“I’m gonna go to jail,” she said in an apparent slurred manner. “Are you kidding me?! Oh my God, no!”

Police had found Retton with a screw-top bottle of wine after pulling over her Porsche on May 17.

Once Retton arrived at the police station, she told the cop, “I mean, really … I know, you know (who I am).”

“Put me in the cell,” she told officers. “Y’all are terrible. I nearly died from double pneumonia. I’ll die here, and you guys will live with that. I’m crazy right now, I’m so lightheaded.”

The footage also showed Retton declining an offer from cops to provide her with extra oxygen.

Retton was hit with a $100 fine for the non-aggravated DUI charge and later took “full responsibility” for what occurred after she entered a plea of no contest.

“What happened was completely unacceptable,” she said in a statement. “I make no excuses. To my family, friends and my fans: I have let you down, and for that I am deeply sorry.”

Retton became an American hero at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, where she captured five medals in gymnastics including the country’s first-ever gold in the all-around competition.

She also won two silvers and two bronze medals at the Games and was named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 1984.

Retton began to make headlines in late 2023 when her daughters revealed the gymnastics great was battling a rare form of pneumonia, which landed her in the ICU.

She was hospitalized in October 2023 after a neighbour found her laying on her bedroom floor, struggling to breathe.

She was admitted to the ICU and her four daughters feared for the worst – even saying their goodbyes – before Retton made her recovery from the illness.