For Mary Lou Retton, the first "door of opportunity" came when famed gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi wanted her to move to Houston to train at his gym.

When her parents asked what she wanted to do, Retton said, "I don't want to spend the rest of my life thinking, 'I could've gone to the Olympics if ... .' "

Retton, the 1984 Olympic gymnastics all-around gold medalist, spoke to a crowd of about 400 at the closing session of yesterday's Women's Leadership Conference.

The conference, which is in its eighth year, gave women a chance to exchange ideas and learn from one another, conference committee member Wanda Scaife said.

When Retton moved away from her home in West Virginia to join Karolyi's gym, "it was literally like going off to see the Wizard of Oz," she said.

"Would you let your 14-year-old daughter move across the country to train with the crazy Romanian coach who'd been in America for less than two years?" she asked audience members, many of whom responded by shaking their heads.

During her speech, Retton used her experiences leading up to the Olympic Games to motivate women to rise above challenges.

A major barrier Retton said she had to overcome was having knee surgery six weeks before the 1984 Olympics. "One doctor told me just to go back to West Virginia and wait for the next Olympics," she said, adding that only motivated her more.

"No one's going to tell me what I can or cannot do," she said. "For me, if you tell me I can't do something, I'm going to work extra hard to prove you wrong."

Retton said she became a maniac in her rehabilitation and training, and, when it came time to go to Los Angeles for the games, she was ready. "I wanted to prove that you can do extraordinary things if you rise above your limits," she said.

Leaving one's comfort zone and walking through a door of opportunity is never easy, but the ability to do so and still perform is what defines a champion, both in sports and in life, Retton said.

Retton's presentation capped off a day that started with a speech by Mary Beahm, vice president of human resources for C-COR.net. Beahm stressed the importance of taking "calculated risks" and asking "what's the worse that could happen?"

"You make the decision to put in a little bit of effort now and you realize that it benefits you not just for that moment, but for the long term," Beahm said. "There will always be people who are smarter than you are, better looking than you are, richer than you are, and you know what? You're still OK."

Later, conference attendees split up and attended more specific sessions. One of these addressed eating disorders and abusive relationships, telling how mothers can help their adolescent daughters through these problems. Cheryl Dellasega, associate professor at the College of Medicine, said women's attitudes and characteristics make them more susceptible to eating disorders.

"Men tend to get their self-esteem from themselves. We tend to get it from the approval of others," she said.

Julie Martinez, who works at University Health Services, said she enjoyed Dellasega's presentation. "I thought it was very informative about how young girls grow up in today's culture," she said. "There are changes since I was growing up that I wasn't really aware of."