Greg Louganis
Encyclopedia
Gregory "Greg" Efthimios Louganis (born January 29, 1960) is an American Olympic diver
and author.
He received the James E. Sullivan Award
from the Amateur Athletic Union
(AAU) in 1984 as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
n/Swedish
descent. He was raised in California by his adoptive parents
, a Greek-American
couple. He attended Santa Ana High School and Valhalla High School
in El Cajon, California.
in Montreal
, where he placed second in the tower event, behind Italian
sport legend Klaus Dibiasi
. Two years later, with Dibiasi retired, Louganis won 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
.
Louganis was a favorite for two golds in the 1980 Summer Olympics
in Moscow, but an American boycott of the games prevented him from participating. Louganis won two world diving titles in 1982. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
, 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: he suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the springboard during the preliminary rounds while performing a reverse 2½ pike. He completed the preliminaries despite his injury, and went on to repeat a similar dive during the finals, earning the gold medal. In the 10m finals he won the gold medal performing a 3.4 difficulty dive in his last attempt, earning in total 638.61 points, surpassing silver medalist Xiong Ni by only 1.14 points. His comeback earned him the title of ABC
's Wide World of Sports "Athlete of the Year" for 1988.
co-written with Eric Marcus
. The book spent five weeks at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list
. His story was also documented in the 1996 Showtime movie Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story
with Mario Lopez
playing the lead and Louganis narrating.
He also produced a video diary
called Looking To the Light, which picked up where Breaking the Surface left off. In the years since his diagnosis was made public, Louganis has been an outspoken HIV awareness advocate.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, he took on a number of roles in movies, including Touch Me in 1997 and David Oliveras
' debut movie Watercolors
in role of Coach Brown, a swimming instructor in a high school.
In September 2000, he appeared on Hollywood Squares
as a member of famous Olympic gold medalists "Dream Team", competing in a special week of the nationally-syndicated game show series, broadcast as a tribute to the 2000 Summer Games. The episodes marked the first time that all these champions came together for this kind of television competition.
In the October/November 2010 issue of ABILITY Magazine, Louganis stated that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is "absurd," "unconstitutional," and a "witch-hunt." He added that "gay men and women have been serving this country for years. . . [it's] basically encouraging people who are serving our country to lie to each other."
.
Diving
Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...
and author.
He received the James E. Sullivan Award
James E. Sullivan Award
The James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the American Amateur Athletic Union , is awarded annually in April to "the outstanding amateur athlete in the United States". Often referred to as the Oscar of sports awards, it was first presented in 1930. The award is named for the AAU's founder and past...
from the Amateur Athletic Union
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union is one of the largest non-profit volunteer sports organizations in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs.-History:The AAU was founded in 1888 to...
(AAU) in 1984 as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States.
Early life
Louganis is of SamoaSamoa
Samoa , officially the Independent State of Samoa, formerly known as Western Samoa is a country encompassing the western part of the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. It became independent from New Zealand in 1962. The two main islands of Samoa are Upolu and one of the biggest islands in...
n/Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
descent. He was raised in California by his adoptive parents
Adoption
Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the original parent or parents...
, a Greek-American
Greek American
Greek Americans are Americans of Greek descent also described as Hellenic descent. According to the 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimation, there were 1,380,088 people of Greek ancestry in the United States, while the State Department mentions that around 3,000,000 Americans claim to be of Greek descent...
couple. He attended Santa Ana High School and Valhalla High School
Valhalla High School (El Cajon, California)
Valhalla High School is a public, comprehensive high school located in Rancho San Diego, a neighborhood near El Cajon, California. It serves approximately 1,700 students in grades nine through twelve. Opened in 1974, Valhalla is the tenth of 12 high schools established by the Grossmont Union High...
in El Cajon, California.
Diving career
At sixteen Louganis took part in the 1976 Summer Olympics1976 Summer Olympics
The 1976 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1976. Montreal was awarded the rights to the 1976 Games on May 12, 1970, at the 69th IOC Session in Amsterdam, over the bids of Moscow and...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, where he placed second in the tower event, behind Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
sport legend Klaus Dibiasi
Klaus Dibiasi
Klaus Dibiasi is a former diver from Italy, who competed in four consecutive Summer Olympics for his native country, starting in 1964...
. Two years later, with Dibiasi retired, Louganis won his first world title in the same event. In 1978, he accepted a diving scholarship to the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
where he studied theater, but in 1981 transferred to the University of California, Irvine
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine , founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the University of California, located in Irvine, California, USA...
, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
.
Louganis was a favorite for two golds in the 1980 Summer Olympics
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...
in Moscow, but an American boycott of the games prevented him from participating. Louganis won two world diving titles in 1982. In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...
, 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
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
, although not without difficulties: he suffered a concussion after hitting his head on the springboard during the preliminary rounds while performing a reverse 2½ pike. He completed the preliminaries despite his injury, and went on to repeat a similar dive during the finals, earning the gold medal. In the 10m finals he won the gold medal performing a 3.4 difficulty dive in his last attempt, earning in total 638.61 points, surpassing silver medalist Xiong Ni by only 1.14 points. His comeback earned him the title of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Wide World of Sports "Athlete of the Year" for 1988.
Personal life
Greg Louganis is openly gay. After he tested positive for HIV in 1988, he recounted his story in a best-selling book Breaking the SurfaceBreaking the Surface
Breaking the Surface is a best-selling book by Greg Louganis, co-written with Eric Marcus published in 1996. The book spent five weeks at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list....
co-written with Eric Marcus
Eric Marcus
Eric Marcus is an American non-fiction writer. His works are primarily of LGBT interest, including Breaking the Surface, the autobiography of gay Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis, which became a #1 New York Times Bestseller and Making History: The Struggle for Gay and Lesbian Equal Rights,...
. The book spent five weeks at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list
New York Times Best Seller list
The New York Times Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. It is published weekly in The New York Times Book Review magazine, which is published in the Sunday edition of The New York Times and as a stand-alone publication...
. His story was also documented in the 1996 Showtime movie Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story
Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story
Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story is a 1997 TV-movie about diver Greg Louganis based on the best-selling book Breaking the Surface co-written by Greg Louganis and Eric Marcus that stayed on top of the New York Times Best Seller list for 5 weeks.-Plot:In Seoul, 1988, Greg Louganis hits...
with Mario Lopez
Mario López
Mario Michael Lopez, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared on several television series, in films, and on Broadway. He is best known for his portrayal of the character A.C. Slater on Saved By The Bell, which he also portrayed as a regular on Saved by the Bell: The College Years...
playing the lead and Louganis narrating.
He also produced a video diary
Vlog
Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidding or vidblogging is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Web television. Entries often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take...
called Looking To the Light, which picked up where Breaking the Surface left off. In the years since his diagnosis was made public, Louganis has been an outspoken HIV awareness advocate.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, he took on a number of roles in movies, including Touch Me in 1997 and David Oliveras
David Oliveras
David Oliveras is an award-winning American director who won "Best Director" award at the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and "Outstanding First Dramatic Feature" at the Los Angeles Outfest for his 2008 debut feature film Watercolors...
' debut movie Watercolors
Watercolors (film)
Watercolors is the 2008 award-winning debut feature film by American director David Oliveras and starring Tye Olson, Kyle Clare. The script of the film is written by David Oliveras himself and features diving Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis and two time Golden Globe winner and Academy Award...
in role of Coach Brown, a swimming instructor in a high school.
In September 2000, he appeared on Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares
Hollywood Squares is an American panel game show in which two contestants play tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The "board" for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants...
as a member of famous Olympic gold medalists "Dream Team", competing in a special week of the nationally-syndicated game show series, broadcast as a tribute to the 2000 Summer Games. The episodes marked the first time that all these champions came together for this kind of television competition.
In the October/November 2010 issue of ABILITY Magazine, Louganis stated that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy is "absurd," "unconstitutional," and a "witch-hunt." He added that "gay men and women have been serving this country for years. . . [it's] basically encouraging people who are serving our country to lie to each other."
Dog agility
Louganis currently competes actively in dog agility competitions with his dogs, Dr. Schivago, Captain Woof Blitzer, and Dobby. Most of his current competitors are named for characters in the Harry Potter series. He published his book For the Life of Your Dog co-written with Betty Sicora Siino.Coaching
Since November 2010, Louganis has been coaching divers of a wide range of ages and abilities in the SoCal Divers Club in Fullerton, CaliforniaFullerton, California
Fullerton is a city located in northern Orange County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 135,161.It was founded in 1887 by George and Edward Amerige and named for George H. Fullerton, who secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway...
.
Filmography
Films in which Greg Louganis has appeared:- Dirty Laundry (1987) as Larry
- Inside Out III (1992) as Max in the segment "The Wet Dream"
- Breaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis StoryBreaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis StoryBreaking the Surface: The Greg Louganis Story is a 1997 TV-movie about diver Greg Louganis based on the best-selling book Breaking the Surface co-written by Greg Louganis and Eric Marcus that stayed on top of the New York Times Best Seller list for 5 weeks.-Plot:In Seoul, 1988, Greg Louganis hits...
(narrator) - It's My Party (1996) as Dan Zuma
- Broken Record (1997 TV movie) as Coach Hill
- Touch Me (1997) as David
- WatercolorsWatercolors (film)Watercolors is the 2008 award-winning debut feature film by American director David Oliveras and starring Tye Olson, Kyle Clare. The script of the film is written by David Oliveras himself and features diving Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis and two time Golden Globe winner and Academy Award...
(2008) as Coach Brown - 30 for 3030 for 3030 for 30 is the umbrella title for a series of documentaries airing on ESPN and its sister networks. The series, which premiered in October 2009 and concluded in December 2010, chronicles 30 stories from the "ESPN era," each of which detail the issues, trends, people, teams, or events that...
: "Tim Richmond: To the Limit" (2010)
External links
- Greg Louganis official web site
- Greg Louganis Official Bio
- Greg Louganis biography at U.S. Olympic Committee official web site
- Greg Louganis to keynote DBSA 2007 National Conference
- Greg Louganis -
- Sports Reference
- Greg Louganis profile at NNDB