Greg Louganis

At age 16, Greg Louganis took part in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montréal, where he placed second in the tower event, behind Italian Klaus Dibiasi[?]. Two years later, with the Italian retired, Louganis won his first world title in the same event.

A major favourite for two golds in 1980, Louganis couldn't attend the Moscow Olympics due to an American boycott of the Games. Four years later, with the Games in Los Angeles Louganis - who in the mean time had won two World titles in 1982 - grabbed his revenge: with record scores and lead over his opponents, Louganis won both the springboard and tower event.

After winning two more World Championship titles in 1986, he repeated his 1984 feat in Seoul 1988, although not without trouble. In one of his jumps in the 3m springboard event, Louganis hit the board with his head. The resulting injury proved not heavy enough to stop him from winning the gold.

In 1994, Louganis publicly announced he was homosexual, taking part in the Gay Games. In the following year, Louganis also announced he had AIDS, something he had known since early 1988.

External Links

Official Website (http://www.louganis.com)