Life in gymnastics was tougher than a handspring for Mary Lou Retton, who trained hard and fast for her Olympic dream. "I work at this seven days a week — two long, hard sessions a day, drilling myself, going over everything again and again," she explained to Sports Illustrated, adding that gymnastics even dominated her dreams. The intensity with which young Retton trained naturally yielded challenges that involved injuries and surgeries. In 1983, a fractured wrist cost the teen prodigy a shot at the world championships. Meanwhile, perennially creaking bones made her mother afraid she'd suffer from early-onset arthritis. "She was busting up her ribs on the uneven bars," her mom told the magazine. Ultimately, rheumatic troubles would prompt Retton to have hip replacement surgery later in life. 

In what could have altered the course of Retton's life, physical pressures almost caused the then-16-year-old gymnast to forgo her sporting distinction. Just six weeks before her 1984 Olympic achievement, Retton was beset by broken cartilage in her right knee, which needed correction through arthroscopic surgery. Amid much distress, especially on the part of her coach Béla Károlyi, Retton underwent the operation. Her medical procedure was kept under wraps, as she resumed training despite her condition. "We did three months of rehabilitation in two weeks," she told the Los Angeles Times. "I mean, to get back into that kind of shape that fast is just unheard of."