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Saturday, August 11, 2012

Huffington Post profile of Greg Louganis

A great profile of Gay Games Ambassador Greg Louganis in the UK version of Huffington Post:

They say you should never meet your hero. He'll always let you down. Well, I have, and he didn't.

The 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul was memorable for two things - Ben Johnson's red-eyed corruption of the 100-metre sprint, and double Olympic gold medallist diving champion Greg Louganis hitting his head on the board.

"My first feeling was one of embarrassment" - says Greg Louganis of his 1988 encounter with the board

Louganis was the golden boy of the diving pool, with two golds to his name from the previous Games in LA. He was expected to become the first man in history to defend both his springboard and platform titles.

So how did it feel when it all went so wrong during the springboard preliminaries, and he went splat in front of all those people?

"My first feeling was one of intense embarrassment," he remembers, 24 years later. Then that trickled into anxiety. But I have to admit, there was also a feeling of relief, because I was under so much pressure to do well, and suddenly everyone stopped expecting anything. It freed me up."

Keep reading about Greg Louganis

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