I’ve admitted before, I’m a sports junkie. I’ve also admitted that I go the most mad for the Olympic games, summer and winter. I watch every single minute I possibly can and I read everything on and off line that I can get my hands on. I’d rather go off to work on 2 hours of sleep than miss a minute of the games.
Several years ago, not long after I first came out, I spent a weekend on the road with a now ex-girlfriend shopping the world’s longest yard sale. We dropped our stuff in a hotel in Frankfurt, Kentucky one evening and headed out to a bar in Lexington that had been recommended to us. We got there a bit too early for anything interesting to be going on and so we decided to explore the neighborhood. After dinner at a 2nd LGBT friendly establishment we wandered up the street just looking around and we noticed some rainbow neon in the window of a 3rd bar. We headed in. We found ourselves in a bear bar. It was early in the evening and the guys were truly welcoming so we had a couple of beers there and watched some Olympic Diving with them. Men’s Olympic Diving. I never had so much fun watching the Olympics as I did watching it with a bunch of friendly bears critiquing the diving form and “entry” of a bunch of Speedo wearing Olympians.
Greg Louganis was one of my favorite world class athletes back in the day. He had though finished his competitive career and come out as gay by the time of that trip. His HIV status was well known. He revealed all in his 1995 biography and memoir authored together with Eric Marcus, Breaking the Surface
Greg’s biography was republished in 2006. Six years later, it remains a sought after athlete bio for mainstream audiences and it’s a top 100 book among LGBT readers.
The Amazon.com review and synopsis:
Greg Louganis won back-to-back double gold medals at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics, and his amazing physique and handsome face should have made him a media superstar. Yet Louganis’s struggles with self-doubt lack of confidence held him back personally and professionally. He only achieved real happiness after coming out as an HIV-positive gay man. This is a thoughtful, sensitive portrait of a man whose insecurities nearly destroyed him, but who found the love and inner strength to save himself.
Greg now travels the country speaking about living with HIV. He’s left a trail of good reviews wherever he’s been. He’s changed from the man who lacked self confidence to one who motivates others who have been diagnosed with HIV to have hope and to believe in themselves.
In 1997 a made for TV movie was produced based on Greg’s book. It starred Mario Lopez as Greg in a powerful performance for the actor we all remember in Saved By the Bell and now as the MC of America’s Best Dance Crew. The movie came out on DVD in 2003.
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