Greg Louganis

American Greg Louganis is considered the greatest diver of all time. After winning Olympic silver in the platform in 1976 as a 16-year-old, he missed the 1980 Games because of the United States’ boycott but returned to take the springboard-platform double in both 1984 and 1988. His 1988 springboard victory was the stuff of high drama, when he qualified despite striking the board with his head on the next-to-last qualifying dive.

Louganis also won both titles at the World Championships of 1982 and 1986, having earlier won the platform in 1978. It is highly probably that the 1980 boycott prevented Louganis from winning the diving double at three consecutive Olympics, an unprecedented feat. He won both springboard and platform at the 1979 Pan-American Games and repeated that feat at the 1982 and 1986 World Championships.

He won over 30 national championships, more than any other American, and numerous international titles, but it is the manner in which he won that stunned the fans and impressed the judges. At the 1982 Worlds, performing an inward 2½ pike, he became the first diver in international competition to be awarded a perfect 10 from all seven judges. Later in that competition, his front 3½ pike received the highest score ever awarded a single dive with 92.07 points. He performed these feats by combining great athletic ability with unusual grace honed by many years of classical dance training.

Of Samoan and European descent, he studied classical dance for many years and this training provided the basis for the elegance and artistry of his performances. His superiority over his contemporaries was considerable and he held many records for the highest marks ever achieved in competition.

Sadly, in the early 1990s, Louganis announced that he was HIV-positive, and had actually been so at the time of the 1988 Olympics when he struck his head on the springboard. He now is known as a breeder of Parson Russell Terriers, especially those used in agility training.