Young gymnasts wearing black leotards and sparkly hair ties listened intently Wednesday night as Mary Lou Retton talked about how her hip replacement changed her life.
The gymnasts from Kosco Kippers, Kosciusko County YMCA's competitive traveling gymnastics team, were joined by hundreds of community members and Biomet Orthopaedics team members.Retton, Biomet Orthopaedic's spokeswoman, visited the Warsaw company Wednesday to help celebrate its $3.5 million Orthopaedic Skills Academy.
The Orthopaedic Skills Academy opened Aug. 1 and occupies 27,000 square feet of remodeled space with two instructional labs and a 48-seat auditorium.
It is located in a building on the east part of Biomet's campus and serves as a facility for training sales and medical workers.
Retton won a gold medal at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 at age 16. She received a Biomet M2a-Magnum metal-on-metal hip replacement hip in June 2005 at age 37 and has served as the company's spokeswoman since April 2006.
Retton met with the company's team members and toured Biomet Wednesday afternoon.
She spoke to the public about her hip replacement in the Dane A. Miller Auditorium at the Orthopaedic Skills Academy Wednesday night.
Dane Miller, Biomet founder, said he was glad Retton could visit Biomet where her hip replacement was made.
"It's a real honor to have Mary Lou visit Biomet and know she is walking with a Biomet hip," Miller said.
Retton said her left hip began to hurt after she had her fourth child and was diagnosed with having hip dysplasia, a deformation or misalignment of the hip joint.
She said gymnasts are notorious for having bad backs, and throughout her gymnastics career she had a number of injuries. She never had a problem with her hip when she was competing, but after she stopped competing, she said, that all changed.
"My hip pain, that was like a toothache, was a combination of genetics and the eight hours of training a day that I did to be in the Olympics," Retton said.
She said she was surprised she needed a hip replacement, but if she was going to have it there were three things she wanted it to allow her to do.
"I wanted to be able to do a flip in a back yard with my daughters, be able to sit cross legged and be able to touch my palms to the floor," Retton said.
"I couldn't get on the floor and play Barbies with my daughters and that's when I knew I had to bite the bullet and get a hip replacement."
Retton said she hasn't regretted getting the hip replacement. She said, as a gymnast, she felt she broke a lot of barriers for young gymnasts.
"I was told my whole life I didn't have the body type to be a gymnast, but I didn't believe that because I had self confidence," Retton said.
She gave advice to parents who have children who are in sports.
"I have four children, and three are gymnasts, and my rule of thumb is to never coach my own child," Retton said.
She said anytime anyone is in athletics, there always is pressure.
Parents' roles should be to introduce their children to as many sports as possible, but let the child decide which sport they are most interested in, according to Retton.
Her main message as Biomet's spokesperson is to encourage those who need a hip replacement not to wait.
She said she is expecting to have a hip replacement in her right hip because she feels tightness at times.
Those in the audience were eager to get Retton's autograph and take photos after she spoke.
Lauren Kuhl, 8, Warsaw, said she has been waiting for weeks to see Retton.
"I've been excited to see Mary Lou since I found out from my mom she would be coming here," Kuhl said.
Kuhl's mother, Tonya, said she was glad she and her daughter had the opportunity to see Retton.
"I remember being my daughter's age when I watched Mary Lou on television win her gold medal, and it's special to be with my daughter to see her and hear her speak," Tonya said.
