How many gold medals did Greg Louganis win?
Four. He took gold on both the 3-meter springboard and the 10-meter platform at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and again at the 1988 Games in Seoul.
On the springboard the diver bounces off a flexible board 3 meters above the pool. The platform is a rigid tower. The 10-meter version is the highest used at the Olympics.
Every Olympic medal, in order
- 1976, Montreal: silver on the 10-meter platform at age 16, behind Klaus Dibiasi.
- 1984, Los Angeles: gold on the 3-meter springboard with 754.41 points.
- 1984, Los Angeles: gold on the 10-meter platform, four days later.
- 1988, Seoul: gold on the 3-meter springboard with 730.80 points.
- 1988, Seoul: gold on the 10-meter platform with 638.61 points.
Louganis was the second man in Olympic history to win both diving golds at one Games, after Pete Desjardins in 1928. No other man has swept both events at two Games in a row.
Montreal 1976 and the missed 1980 Games
Louganis made his Olympic debut in Montreal at 16 and left with silver on the platform. Klaus Dibiasi took the gold.
Two years later he won his first world title on the platform in West Berlin. Then came 1980. Louganis was a favorite for two golds in Moscow. The US boycott kept him home. He was one of 461 athletes later given a Congressional Gold Medal for it.
Los Angeles 1984 Olympics
Louganis won the springboard final on August 8, 1984 with 754.41 points. That left him 92.10 points ahead of Tan Liangde of China.
The platform title followed four days later to complete the double. He arrived as the favorite after the 1982 World Championships, where he became the first diver at a major international meeting to receive a perfect 10 from all seven judges.
Seoul 1988 Olympics and the head injury
On September 19, 1988, during the springboard preliminaries, Louganis hit his head on the end of the board. It happened on his ninth dive of the round, a reverse 2½ somersault in the pike position (body folded at the hips with straight legs).
A doctor stitched the cut at poolside. Louganis went back to the board. His next dive scored 87.12, the highest in the round. The head injury page has the full account.
The two finals
He won the springboard final with 730.80 points, 25.92 ahead of Tan Liangde, as Sports Illustrated reported that October. In the platform final he scored 638.61, finishing 1.14 points ahead of Xiong Ni of China. His last dive carried a difficulty rating of 3.4 and scored 86.70.
The pool and his HIV diagnosis
Louganis had been diagnosed with HIV about six months before the Games. He kept the diagnosis secret until 1995. The pool and HIV question is answered on the head injury page. His HIV diagnosis and disclosure have their own section on the biography page.
Who coached Greg Louganis?
Sammy Lee, a two-time Olympic champion, began coaching Louganis when he was a Junior Olympic competitor. Ron O'Brien coached him from 1978 to 1988, a stretch that began with that first world title.
He talks about the years after the pool in the performance and life-after-diving interviews.
World titles and honors
- World Championship titles in 1978 (platform), 1982 (both events) and 1986 (both events)
- Gold in both events at the Pan American Games in 1979, 1983 and 1987
- 47 US national titles
- The James E. Sullivan Award in 1984, given to the top amateur athlete in the United States
- ABC's Wide World of Sports Athlete of the Year in 1988
The life that followed the medals, from his early years and family to his move to Panama, is on the biography page.
