Luganis began his big international sports career in 1976 - he became the second in jumping from a 10-meter platform at the Olympics in Montreal, where we, in fact, met. Nowadays, few remember that 16-year-old Greg performed at those Games and on the springboard, but he remained sixth there - he was too fragile and light to compete with adult men. But then a unique winning streak of more than ten years began.
The American genius won gold at the 1978 World Championship in West Berlin, four years later he scored a golden double, becoming the first on the platform and on the springboard at the 1982 World Championship in Guayaquil and repeated this achievement in 1986 in Madrid. The World Championships were held in those days every four years, so the value of those awards now seems to be very special.
It is customary to say about athletes of this magnitude that they are killing their generation of rivals, leaving them no chance to win. But in 1976, after losing in Montreal to the legendary Italian Klaus Dibiasi, Luganis seriously thought about killing himself.
His coach - two-time Olympic champion in platform jumping Sammy Lee - prepared the guy then exclusively for victory and proudly liked to emphasize that at the 10-meter height his ward had no weaknesses. Greg really easily won the preliminary series against Dibiasi, but in the final, where the scoring started from zero, he could not cope with his nerves - he flunked the final jump.
The Italian, by the way, failed his attempt too, but, unlike the debutant, he had some kind of airbag: firstly, he was a legend on the watchtower, and secondly, he had already managed to announce his upcoming retirement, and in such cases judges are often a little more supportive of titled veterans.
“Sammy then cursed so much, shouted at me so ... Perhaps, for the first time I saw a coach in such a state. I myself was completely crushed by what had happened. I felt that I had let everyone down at once: my coach, my country, my family, friends, people who believed in me ... I seemed to myself absolutely senseless, useless, not worthy of attention and indulgence. Feeling all this at the age of 16 was so unbearable that I constantly thought about suicide and at one time was very close to realizing this idea. Well, after three and a half years, when it became known that a decision had been made to boycott the Moscow Games, I simply lost my mind for a while. Was ready for anything. Until the change of citizenship, ”Luganis later recalled.
The idea of performing at the Games for another country seemed to Luganis at first quite real: his adoptive father was a Greek by nationality and seriously discussed with his son the option of performing in Moscow for the Greek national team. The trouble was that my father did not have a valid Greek passport. And the procedure for its registration would take too long.
Luganis rode fantastically motivated to the 1982 World Championships in Guayaquil. By that time, the athlete, at the insistence of Sammy Lee, had changed his coach (Ron O'Brien became his new mentor) and was obsessed with the idea of settling with Alexander Portnov, a Soviet athlete who, in the absence of Luganis, became the Olympic champion in Moscow on a three-meter springboard.
In this discipline, Greg did not perform very often, preferring a 10-meter springboard height, but the 121 point he won against Portnov in Guayaquil spoke for itself. Then, in fact, talk intensified that the winners of the Moscow Games were incredibly lucky that Luganis did not come to Moscow: they got a chance to win at least something.
In 1984, in Los Angeles, the legendary athlete had practically no competitors. On the springboard, he was ahead of the second medalist - Chinese Tang Liande - by more than 92 points, and on the tower his advantage over compatriot Bruce Kimball was 67.41. In the same place, Luganis established a historic achievement: he became the first diving diver since 1928 who managed to win both disciplines at the same Olympics.
Now it seems incredible that Luganis had no intention of continuing his career after those Games: he sincerely believed that he had already won everything that was possible in sports, and did not leave just because he really wanted to break the record of his compatriot Cynthia Potter for the number of victories in US championships.
At the time of the end of her career, the American had 28 of them, and Greg, delayed for a season, had a chance to become 29 times. As a result, he ended his career, winning a total of 47 top national titles, but this was no longer an end in itself for the athlete: six months before the 1988 Games, Luganis was diagnosed with HIV, which at that time was definitely considered a death sentence.
“To some extent, diving saved me. My doctor, who was also a close relative of mine, convinced me to continue training. He said that he was ready to take on the entire medical side of my preparation, leaving me only training concerns. Every four hours, including in the middle of the night, I needed to take potent medicines. I couldn’t talk about my illness with anyone, I couldn’t think about it either, so I went into training, ”the athlete admitted many years later.
According to Luganis, he worked to the point of exhaustion, and his physical condition was the very factor that helped him cope with the treatment safely.
“It was a very difficult test in the literal sense of the word. Most people with HIV infection died in those years just because the body could not withstand such aggressive medication. After all, I myself was sincerely convinced that I would not live to 30. Then I began to dream of living to 40. And even more so, I never imagined that I would live to 50 and feel good at the same time, "- explained Greg.
The 1988 Games were remembered by many fans not for the grandiose double victory of Luganis, but for the scandal associated with the American's injury. In the penultimate jump of the preliminary series, the American hit his head hard on the edge of a metal board, receiving a zero mark for the jump. He was stitched right on the side, and in the final attempt, Greg still managed to gain the amount that would allow him to reach the final.
“I was lucky that there was only one attempt left and the doctor had time to put stitches before he had to go out for the final jump. Well, after I finally made it to the finals, I understood perfectly well that each jump could be my last. So I focused on every single element as never before in my life. First on the springboard, then on the tower. And in fact I was not nervous, the injury did a good job in this regard: it knocked all unnecessary thoughts out of my head, ”Luganis analyzed afterwards.
The American was destined to go through another extremely difficult period after those games. In 1994, leaving the big sport, he took part in the world gay games, thereby openly declaring his non-traditional orientation. Now this is already perceived as the norm, but then the former mentor of the American Sammy Lee greatly lamented about this.
When we met at the 1994 World Championships in Rome, the specialist said that, in his opinion, the ex-ward's coming-out hit hard on the reputation of diving. According to the coach, people are not too willing to send their children to the sport that is associated in their minds with homosexuality. This, at least in those years, was the case in America. Lee was right in his own way, but Luganis reasoned differently.
“By that time, I had not been a little boy for a long time. I was well aware of the high suicide rate among gay teenagers. These children went crazy with the mere thought that they were not like everyone else, and did not know how to live with it at all. It is very important, as it seems to me, to know that you are not alone and that in fact there is nothing in this to consciously turn your life into a nightmare. And even more so to refuse it. In addition, it has always been important for me to tell people the truth. Do not hide skeletons in the closet that someone will ever pull out and begin to blackmail you. I have always lived honestly and openly. Therefore, I decided to take this step. I was convinced that it was absolutely correct when the letters were sent. First in tens, then hundreds, thousands. People wrote that I literally saved their lives. Or their children. This, in fact, was the main confirmation for me that I did the right thing, ”said the Olympic champion.
Now Luganis can still be found in the circle of jumpers. Following the tragic death of one of the founders of high diving, Nicky Staikovich, Greg took his place as the sporting director of the World Series. From time to time he participates in the training of American Olympic jumpers, but the American's real hobby is not sports, but his Jack Russell Terrier dogs. This year the legendary athlete celebrated his 60th birthday.
“Actually, I like my age,” he said about this. - I still devote a lot of time to training. Stretching, swimming, doing yoga seriously. This allows you to still feel fit. This is still one of the conditions for treatment. After all, the disease has not gone anywhere. Apparently, this is my cross - to work on myself until the last day of my life, "- philosophically notes Greg.