Happy birthday to Mary Lou Retton, who despite taking the country by storm in 1984 — when Nolan Ryan still had 10 major league seasons left in his arm — turns just 39 today.

Retton won five medals at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics, but the all-around women’s gold — secured with a perfect 10 in her final event, the vault — catapulted her to national stardom and her very own Wheaties box that a SPORT magazine writer quipped featured a life-sized picture of the 4-foot-9 dynamo.

Here’s a video of the vault on YouTube. Boy, it sure seemed more exciting when I was 11 years old.