Greg Louganis

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Medal record
Olympic Games
Men's diving
Silver	1976 Montreal	10 m platform
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	3 m springboard
Gold	1984 Los Angeles	10 m platform
Gold	1988 Seoul	3 m springboard
Gold	1988 Seoul	10 m platform

Gregory Efthimios Louganis (born November 29, 1960 in El Cajon, California) is an American diver.

Louganis is best known for winning back-to-back Olympic titles in both the 3m and 10m diving events. He received the James E. Sullivan Award in 1984 as the top amateur athlete in the United States.

Contents 1 Diving career 1.1 Olympic Games 2 Post-diving 3 External links

[edit] Diving career

Louganis was raised in California to adoptive parents. He is of Samoan/Swedish descent, and was adopted by a Greek-American family. At age 16, he took part in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, where he placed second in the tower event, behind Italian Klaus Dibiasi. Two years later, with Dibiasi retired, Louganis went on to win his first world title in the same event.

In 1978, he accepted a diving scholarship to the University of Miami where he studied theater, but in 1981 transferred to the University of California, Irvine, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.

[edit] Olympic Games

Louganis was a favorite for two golds in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. But an American boycott of the games, instituted by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, in protest of the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, prevented him from participating.

Four years later, with the Games in Los Angeles, Louganis (who in the meantime had won two world titles in 1982) grabbed his revenge. With record scores and leads over his opponents, Louganis won gold medals in both the springboard and tower diving events.

After winning two more world championship titles in 1986, he repeated his 1984 feat in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, although not without difficulties. In what is considered one of the greatest feats in sporting history, Louganis suffered an injury during one dive attempt, then went on to score a perfect dive the second time, enough to earn him the gold medal. In one of his jumps in the springboard event, Louganis hit the diving board with his head while attempting a reverse 2 1/2 pike, but the resulting injury did not prevent him from going on to win the gold medal. His incredible comeback earned him as ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year for 1988.

[edit] Post-diving

Louganis posed nude for Playgirl magazine in 1987.

In 1994, Louganis announced he was gay and went on to compete in the Gay Games.

In 1995, Louganis's autobiography co-written with Eric Marcus, entitled Breaking the Surface, was published. Louganis revealed publicly that he was HIV-positive. The announcement caused some controversy because many felt he should have informed the treating doctors and those who used the pool of his HIV status following his injury, which caused light bleeding, in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. However, those using the pool following the injury were never in danger of infection.

Following the announcement of his HIV status, Louganis was dropped by most of his corporate sponsors, with the exception of Speedo, which continues to sponsor him to this day.

A 1997 made-for-TV movie, Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story, based on the book, starring Mario López as Louganis.

Since retiring from competitive diving, Louganis has done some acting, most notably appearing in an off-Broadway production of the Paul Rudnick play Jeffrey. He is also the former boyfriend of former E! television personality Steve Kmetko.

[edit] External links

• Greg Louganis Official Web Site.
• Greg Louganis profile at NNDB.
• Greg Louganis Biography at U.S. Olympic Committee Official Web Site.