He’s the most dominant diver in Olympic history. At the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles Greg Louganis was “The Man” winning two gold medals in the 3M Springboard event and the 10M Platform. Greg went on to win gold in the same two events in the Seoul games in 1988 becoming the only male diver in history to win back to back events.
With his Adonis good looks and boyish charm Louganis was America’s sweetheart. In the 90’s he announced that he was gay shocking the nation as one of the first pro athletes to come out, followed by an admission of being HIV positive. Many of today’s generation are too young to understand what such an admission meant at that time. Non-existent was the much wider main stream acceptance of homosexuals that lives today. The bravery that Louganis showed by coming out was unprecedented for that era.
Now over two decades removed from the sport he once dominated Louganis is back to help mentor the US Diving team and lead them back to greatness.
I had a chance to chat one on one with the former Olympic champ to talk about his upcoming feature “Back On Board” that debut’s on HBO Tuesday August 4th.
Champ, thanks for taking the time today. First please tell me about Back on Board and the message you’re conveying.
“Back On Board covers so much. The thing that i think impresses me is the work that Will Sweeney and Cheryl Furjanic did with the chronology of my life and also giving a background of what was going on in the world at that time.Yes i hard about ActUp and i heard about this and that and LGBQ. Much of it was news to me because i was so focused on my diving. That wasn’t my reality but it was happening around me. It was wonderful to put it all together.”
From viewing the promo it looks like your life has taken you in many different directions and you’ve also dealt with depression. What happened that seemed to empower you to make this feature and get to where you are now?
“That’s a very complex question. Because really a lot of that came to me in stages. The start of it really isn’t very kind. When i was in an abusive relationship and i was going through a depression Jim told me “live or die but don’t hover”. He was like ready to offer me a gun or a knife or whatever. But it really struck a chord with me. Live or die but don’t hover. That really got me thinking and not always in a positive way but it stuck with me. I knew down in my heart that i was a survivor. So i knew what the choice was. It was years of therapy and going through the process of writing the book with Marcus. That was really cathartic. I thought i was showing my weaknesses but I realized on the book tour I was showing my strengths. So when Cheryl Furjanic and Will Sweeney approached me about Back On Board i was going through a lot. I was on the verge of losing my house, deciding if I was going to file for bankruptcy. All of those things were kind of coming to ahead. I learned that I wasn’t the only one. I also found that can be incredibly empowering. That people realize even an Olympic Gold Medalist could be going through this stuff. It wasn’t unique it was a Country Wide loan that was bought by BofA, the black mold scare of 2006, being taken advantage of by a contractor. This was all classic stuff that happening across the country. It was important and empowering that people were supportive of that and sympathetic to that. We’re human. We make mistakes and sometimes trust the wrong people. Because growing I had a coach Ron O’brien that said what he meant and meant what he said and not everyone operates that way. Through trial and error i’d rather trust and take that chance rather then isolating myself and hiding from the world.”
It took three years to film this documentary on your life. Were there times you ever wanted to give up the filming? And if so, what pushed you forward to see it through?
“I think my relationship with Cheryl and the crew. Because the crew kind of moved in with us too. And actually one of the members of the crew was going through a similar situation with his house and we’d share notes and share advice and Cheryl was like my therapist through this journey. There’s a lot of footage that was left on the floor. But this is a documentary and not a mini series. We could see what they were doing was very powerful and we are so grateful to HBO for putting this on their platform.”
You’ve started mentoring the Olympic team. You’re the most decorated champion in Olympic Diving history which historically can make it difficult to train young athletes. What are some of the biggest obstacles you see the young athletes having to deal with in today’s world?
“Well I think we did great in London. We got two bronze medals a silver and a gold. I think that really was the catalyst in having that type of momentum. When Abbey Johnson and Kelsey Bryant came up with the silver medal in Women’s Synchro Springboard. I think that started the momentum for the rest of the team and gave them hope. That’s what the Olympics is. It really is an emotional roller coaster. If you get off on the right foot it can be very positive. I think in Rio 2016 we’re gonna be hard pressed. It’s the entire world chasing China and Mexico is of course pouring millions of dollars into their diving program and it’s showing. I think we should run educational programs for coaches to give them that better foundation so they can better prepare coming up with their programs. It also makes it hard because we live in such a litigious society many of the diving facilities are going by the way-side because of insurance reasons. So if you’re not exposed to a sport you don’t do it for an option. Right now a lot of our most talented divers are coming from gymnastics because the skill sets are the same.”
You’re now 55 and obviously still training. What’s your daily routine or training regimen?
“When i’m home I just started doing this Phoenix Effect Boot Camp. That’s been transforming for me. I did Spin and Yoga for many years but you have to change it up. I also did Trapeze for a while. Etching out the time for that is challenging. But i’m up for a lot of those types of things. I don’t do as much when i travel so i make sure i bank those workouts when i’m home.”
In the promo for Back On Board it states how you dominated the sport of diving but never felt accepted. How do you feel now?
“It’s still a bit of a mixed bag. I’m tip toe’ing in. But i definitely feel much more welcome then I did before. The athletes and lot of the coaches have really embraced me. Once they realized i’m not trying to take anyone’s job and they realized i’m just there for the athletes to share my experiences and knowledge with them. So they have a better understanding of what decisions they’re going to make in a specific direction.”
BACK ON BOARD: GREG LOUGANIS was directed by Cheryl Furjanic; produced by Will Sweeney and Cheryl Furjanic; written by Cheryl Furjanic, Karen K.H. Sim and Will Sweeney; edited by Karen K. H. Sim and Jessica M. Thompson; executive produced by David Kaplan & Joan Kaplan, Grey Sample and Diana Holtzberg.
Writer Gary Randall is a CraveOnline contributor and founder of SocialUnderground.com.
