What happened when Greg Louganis hit his head?
It was the ninth dive of the preliminary round, a reverse 2½ somersault in the pike position (body folded at the hips with straight legs). History.com reports that he sensed something was wrong as he left the board and angled his body wide to protect his hands.
The back of his head struck the board. He later described a loud, hollow thud.
Stitches, gloves and the doctor
A team doctor closed the wound at poolside. History.com counts four stitches. Sports Illustrated's report from that October describes temporary sutures later replaced by five stitches. Sources also differ on whether he suffered a concussion, so this page does not claim one.
Louganis has said his biggest worry was that the doctor, James Puffer, worked without gloves. Puffer later said he was not concerned, because studies showed HIV transmission is extremely rare even in contact sports.
His next dive
He went back up the ladder and scored 87.12, the highest mark of the round. He finished the preliminaries third.
Was the pool a risk because of his HIV?
Louganis had been diagnosed with HIV about six months earlier and had started antiretroviral drugs. Other divers used the pool after his injury, which later led to questions about why he had not disclosed his status.
Public health figures said the danger was very small. According to Wikipedia's account, a CDC official said the blood was heavily diluted by the pool water and that chlorine kills HIV. Anthony Fauci explained that skin is an effective barrier and the virus needs an open wound to enter. No one at the Games was affected.
Why he said nothing until 1995
Louganis told Barbara Walters in 1995 that the secret was incredibly guarded and that disclosure could have alarmed the whole competition. The biography covers the diagnosis itself. The 1995 interviews are listed with links.
How the injury changed the result
It did not. He won the springboard final with 730.80 points, 25.92 ahead of Tan Liangde. He then took the platform title by 1.14 points over Xiong Ni to complete a second double. Scores for both finals are on the Olympics page.
Hearing him describe it
- NPR with Arun Rath, 2015: the stitches and his coach's hockey comparison.
- LGBTQ&A with Jeffrey Masters: diving as a refuge from the stress of his diagnosis.
