Latest / Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel / Encore! Olympic Gold Metalist Greg Louganis: The Untold Story of Triumph, Secrets and Survival

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Encore! Olympic Gold Metalist Greg Louganis: The Untold Story of Triumph, Secrets and Survival · Miss Understood with Rachel Uchitel

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  Speaker 1: real conversations in a new language today. We all know
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  Speaker 1: the name Greg Louganis, and when you hear that, you
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: think greatest diver of all time. But what many don't
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  Speaker 1: know is that he got that title despite a difficult
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: childhood where he was bullied and misunderstood to the point
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  Speaker 1: he felt such unhappiness that he thought his only way
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  Speaker 1: out might be to end his own life. Diving became
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  Speaker 1: his purpose. But as many athletes know, the aftermath of
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: retiring from a sport can bring a multitude of highs
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: and lows. What happens to these athletes during their aftercare?
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  Speaker 1: They've dedicated their lives to the sport, then what? Here
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  Speaker 1: to discuss his story and how he found purpose in
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  Speaker 1: life is the one and only Greg Louganis. And now,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: enjoy the show. I miss you. Hi, everyone. It's Rachel
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: Yucatel from the Misunderstood Podcast, and I wanted to give
• 1:43
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  Speaker 1: use code UNDERSTOOD for 15% off. So, Greg, so happy
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  Speaker 1: that you're here. Thank you for joining me.
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  Speaker 2: My pleasure.
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  Speaker 1: So my first question is, what is it like to
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: be Greg Louganis?
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  Speaker 2: What is it like to be Greg Louganis? Well, I
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: don't know any different. So, you know, it is what
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: it is. It's interesting that people actually remember who the
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: heck I am, you know, and, you know, Everybody seems
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  Speaker 2: to remember me hitting my head on the diving board
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: in 88. And that's an image. But it's interesting because
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: young kids, little, little kids, they know me from Sharknado. Wow.
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: I was in Sharknado 5. And then a little bit older,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: like in 20s, they know me from Entourage. I married Lloyd.
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  Speaker 2: And yeah, so I mean, it's really strange how people
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  Speaker 2: make associations of who I am. So, yeah.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Because you've done so many things to so many different
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  Speaker 1: people or generations, you might be seen for different things
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  Speaker 1: or known for different things. So let's go back to
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: your childhood for a second. Where were you born? I
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: know that you were adopted. Tell us all about that.
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  Speaker 2: I was conceived in midway. born in San Diego. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: my mother was 16 when she had me. And so
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  Speaker 2: she put me up for adoption. And, uh, fortunately Francis
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: and Peter Louganis, they were looking for children that my,
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: my father, my, the father who raised me was Greek.
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  Speaker 2: So he had dark hair, dark eyes. And so my
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  Speaker 2: mother wanted, uh, her children to reflect, you know, my dad. Hmm.
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  Speaker 2: So fortunately, they found me. And so I spent my
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  Speaker 2: first nine months in foster care and and then I
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and then I was adopted.
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  Speaker 3: And I was.
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  Speaker 2: Can see my, my sister is two years older than me.
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  Speaker 2: And so she was in dance class because my mother
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  Speaker 2: didn't want a classy little kid knocking down lamps and
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: all that. And so I was sitting in the waiting room.
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  Speaker 2: And when I was a year and a half and
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  Speaker 2: I couldn't stay in the lines of the coloring books
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  Speaker 2: that they gave me. And so that was kind of boring.
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  Speaker 2: So I used to sneak, you know, crawl under the
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: chairs and sneak into the studio and imitate what the,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: you know, kids were doing in the studio. And when
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  Speaker 2: I was a year and a half, the teacher said, oh,
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  Speaker 2: let him stay. Let's see what we can teach him,
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  Speaker 2: what he can learn. So I started doing dance acrobatics
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  Speaker 2: when I was a year and a half. First performance
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  Speaker 2: on stage was when I was three. And then when
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  Speaker 2: I was three, I got a partner and we started
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  Speaker 2: doing recitals and performing at convalescent homes because we couldn't
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  Speaker 2: compete in talent contests until I turned six. So then
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  Speaker 2: we were doing all of these performances, performing in parades, festivals,
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  Speaker 2: all of that stuff. So once we started competing, Eleanor
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: Smith and Greg Louganis, we were winning everything. We won
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  Speaker 2: all kinds of stuff. She went into gymnastics and I
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  Speaker 2: followed her into gymnastics. And then when I was eight
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  Speaker 2: years old, we had a pool built in our backyard
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  Speaker 2: with a diving board. And I was trying some of
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  Speaker 2: my gymnastics stunts of the diving board at home. And
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  Speaker 2: my mother didn't want me to kill myself. So she
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  Speaker 2: got me lessons.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, my God.
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  Speaker 2: And first day after lessons, the coach said, you know,
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  Speaker 2: will you join the club team? And I said, well,
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  Speaker 2: I'll think about it. Because I was doing dance, jazz
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  Speaker 2: and tap, acrobatics, gymnastics. And now I'm adding diving. And
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  Speaker 2: so from age 8 to 12, I was. was doing
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  Speaker 2: all of these different things. And then when I was 12,
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  Speaker 2: I had OSNI slaughters, which is very common for young, active,
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  Speaker 2: super physically active children. So I had water on the knee.
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  Speaker 2: And so my doctor said, well, you should quit the
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  Speaker 2: dance acrobatics and gymnastics, but you can continue diving because
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  Speaker 2: you don't have the same type of impact. So then
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  Speaker 2: that's where my All of that focus was narrowed to
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  Speaker 2: one discipline, and I was world champion for my age
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  Speaker 2: group at 13. Then three years after that, I was
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  Speaker 2: on my first Olympic team.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think you were so good at that because
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  Speaker 1: you had so much background in the gymnastics and all
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  Speaker 1: the movement from when you were little?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's like Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers talks about,
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  Speaker 2: you know, the, you know, you know, the development, you know,
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  Speaker 2: champions aren't born, you know, they're created. I mean, and
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  Speaker 2: so all of those disciplines, the dance, you know, the
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  Speaker 2: rhythm and the timing of dance and then acrobatics and gymnastics,
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  Speaker 2: the aerial sports, type awareness and skill set just transferred
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  Speaker 2: into diving really what?
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  Speaker 1: And did you like diving?
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  Speaker 2: It was okay. My first love was gymnastics. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: it was my dream to make the Olympic team in gymnastics.
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  Speaker 2: But then when I had to quit, then I just,
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  Speaker 2: I never thought I was good enough in diving.
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  Speaker 1: Why not?
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  Speaker 2: I just, I just, perceived everybody better than me, you know,
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  Speaker 2: everybody was better than I was. Right. And so, um,
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: you know, and, but, you know, I, and kind of
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  Speaker 2: tried to do the best that I could. And, uh, uh,
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  Speaker 2: my first Olympics was really challenging because at that time, Dr.
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  Speaker 2: Sammy Lee coached me for a very short window of time. Um,
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  Speaker 2: he was the Olympic gold medalist in men's 10 meter
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  Speaker 2: platform in 48 and 52. And he coached Bobby Webster
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  Speaker 2: to win two golds in 60, 64. And I was
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  Speaker 2: in 76, I was going up against Klaus DiBiase, who
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  Speaker 2: was going for his third Olympic gold medal to break
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  Speaker 2: his record. So my sole purpose on this planet at
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  Speaker 2: that time was to prevent Klaus from winning that gold medal. Wow.
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  Speaker 2: And I failed.
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  Speaker 1: And you were, you were 16 years old, right?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: So, and you got the silver.
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  Speaker 2: And I got the silver. Oh.
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  Speaker 1: How devastating.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know what? The highest rate of suicide amongst
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Olympians is Olympic silver medalists. Really?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Because they're there to get the gold. And it's
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  Speaker 1: so devastating when they don't?
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  Speaker 2: You're so close. If you get the gold, that's kind of...
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  Speaker 2: expected um but if you're a silver medal you just
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  Speaker 2: not quite there and if you're a bronze medalist chances
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  Speaker 2: are through the competition you're just grateful they have something
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  Speaker 2: to bring home wow so yeah so there's a and
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  Speaker 2: and also at 16 it was very confusing for me
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  Speaker 2: because i couldn't understand why all of these people were
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  Speaker 2: celebrating me when i was feeling like a failure Right.
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  Speaker 1: So I want to get into that. So going back
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  Speaker 1: a little bit into your childhood, you talk about not
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  Speaker 1: being happy and having a really difficult time. What was
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  Speaker 1: going on?
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  Speaker 2: You know, I went, I can't remember how old I was.
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  Speaker 2: I was probably around 12. And I went to my
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  Speaker 2: mom and I said, because I didn't, at that age,
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  Speaker 2: I didn't view suicide the way that other people described it.
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  Speaker 3: Mm-hmm.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I thought that, you know, I said, Mom,
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  Speaker 2: I can understand how somebody can die of sadness. And
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  Speaker 2: that's how I put it to her. So, you know, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I had chronic depression, you know, growing up.
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  Speaker 1: And you were getting bullied, right, from people?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: What kind of things did they say to you?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I was going to a school that was predominantly white, Caucasian,
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  Speaker 2: and I had darker skin. And so, yeah, I was
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  Speaker 2: called a lot of names. And also, I'm sure I
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: was a little soft, effeminate.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: They think you're done for the day, but they don't
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: know about the drawer.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: The drawer. Just the one square before bed. Or two,
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: you know. Nobody's watching.
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  Speaker 2: You deserve a treat.
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: With eight flavours to choose from, you can choose the
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: flavour you favour with Cadbury Dairy Milk.
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: So I was called faggot and... And also I'm dyslexic.
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: So I didn't know about dyslexia until I was a
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: freshman in college. I was given dyslexia as a vocabulary
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: word and I read it and I'm like, oh my God,
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  Speaker 2: that's me. There was a recognition. It's like, oh my God,
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  Speaker 2: I'm dyslexic. I'm not all those things that the kids
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: used to say about me. Because when I started school,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: I stuttered and I was having a difficult time reading.
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: So I was in speech therapy and remedial reading. I
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: was set apart from the other kids.
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  Speaker 1: What was your relationship with your father like?
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  Speaker 2: Ooh, that was challenging. Growing up, it was challenging. And
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  Speaker 2: I'm so grateful that we were able to come full
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: circle because I took care of him the last six
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  Speaker 2: weeks of his life.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: He died in cancer. I'm sorry. And that time, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: that year was just so healing because he was diagnosed
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: with cancer in, I think, 90. And so when he
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: was diagnosed with cancer, I came out to him about
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: my HIV status. And so then it was kind of
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: a crusade for life and quality of life. And we
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: had some really important conversations about what that meant to us.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: We want the quality of life, not necessarily the quality,
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: the quantity. So, yeah, it was a very healing time.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: So you got to make some peace with him.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. That was that I'm really, really grateful for.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and also when you started to perform and win,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I assume he was very proud and was there. Was
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: he not?
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, he got, once I started into diving, I,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: growing up, my assumption was that he didn't take any
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: interest in the dance and acrobatics and gymnastics because it was,
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: you know, growing, growing up, where I was, that was
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: a sissy sport. And so I thought that my father
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: felt the same way. But when we talked, he said
• 14:55
  Speaker 2: it was just where he was in life that he
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: was trying to provide for his family. So he had
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: to spend more hours at his job because he was
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: trying to do the best that he could to provide.
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: And so I didn't really see that part. I just
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: knew that he was not there.
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: But once I started into diving, I think he was
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: on better financial footing. And so he was around a
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: lot and he got a little... too involved in where
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: I did have to ask him when I was 11
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: years old, I asked him not to take me to,
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: not to stay at practice. He could take me to practice,
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: drop me off, but not to stay.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: Why did he get involved and try to tell you
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: how to do things or.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah. It was, yeah. The drives home would be total
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: repetition of everything that coach told me. And, you know,
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: and it was, yeah, it was, it was pretty.
• 15:57
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: That's understandable. I think a lot of kids go through that.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Tell me about your relationship with your mother. I know
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: you follow sort of a saying that she said, which
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: is make everywhere you go better because you were there.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Talk to me about that.
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  Speaker 2: You know, my mother, she really was incredible. I mean,
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: we we had a rough start. I mean, I spent
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: my 13th birthday in Juneau Hall. I was kind of
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: out of control. And so a part of my release
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: out of juvenile hall was to go to school, go
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: to practice and be home and help my mother with chores.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: And so during that time, we really grew and bonded
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: at that time. And I realized she was the one
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: person that it didn't matter. You know, it's like these
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: are choices that you're making.
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: Mm hmm.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: You know, like when when people say, oh, my God,
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: you made all these sacrifices and you gave up your childhood,
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: you know, to be, you know, this Olympian and all
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: of these pursuits. You know, those were choices I made,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: you know, and so I was my mother always made
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: it very clear that it was my choice. So I
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: had to stand by my choices that I made.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: Right, right. She sounds like an amazing woman. Okay, so
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: let's go back to your first Olympics. You were a sophomore,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: you were 16. What was that like? Tell me about
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the pressure. How much training goes into actually getting there? Like,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: give me a day in the life.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Well, okay, so at that time... And my training changed
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: throughout my career because early on it was learning new dives,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: getting my degree of difficulty up. And so it was
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: a lot of repetition.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: And just sorry, out of curiosity, when you're practicing for dives,
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: do you do them all the time in the water
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: or do you start on land and kind of do
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: it like a gymnastics move? Like what does a diver
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: do to practice?
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you learn portions of the dive. Back when
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: I was learning my dives, We didn't have a lot
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: of the technology that they have now. That came in
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: the middle of my, or yeah, towards the beginning of
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: my career where you had a trampoline, spotting belt, you know,
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: my coach could hold me up and we execute the
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: dive on a trampoline before we take it onto the board.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: So we know what we're going to look, you know,
• 18:37
  Speaker 2: what we're going to feel, what we're going to seek.
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: So that changed. And when I, when I first started,
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: it was like, okay, put, put a sweatshirt on or something.
• 18:48
  Speaker 2: So if you smack, it doesn't hurt as much. So I,
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: I went through that, uh, in learning a lot of
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: my dives, uh, early on, but Ron O'Brien, my coach, uh,
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: he was my coach, Ron O'Brien. He coached me. Um,
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: I went to his camp first. when I was 15
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: and he taught me how to spot. So he had
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: me in the belts. Um, Dr. Samuel, he didn't know
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: how to pull ropes, you know, to do the harness.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: He didn't know any of that stuff. Uh, but Ron O'Brien,
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: he got me in the belts and put me on trampoline.
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: I learned the dives. He taught me how to spot.
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: And that's when my diving career really shot up because
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: after that camp, I was, I, I, I, Qualified for
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: the finals in the senior nationals, which qualified me for
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: the Olympic trials in 1976. Got it.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Now, at this point, are you feeling better about yourself
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: because you have a purpose? and you see that you're
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: so good at things? Did the kids that once made
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: fun of you start to see that you are somewhat
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: of a hero? Like what was going on in your
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: personal life there?
• 19:59
  Speaker 2: I compartmentalized my life. What I did outside of school,
• 20:04
  Speaker 2: I didn't let anybody know.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Interesting.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Interesting.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: Because I had an experience where I think it was
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: in third grade. I did a modern dance routine with
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: acrobatics to Tears of a Clown. And one of my bullies,
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: you know, she picked a fight and was beating me up.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: And I was pushing my face into the asphalt. And
• 20:28
  Speaker 2: I was thinking to myself, I was thinking, okay, I'm
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: going to show you. I'm going to become the best
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: in the world at something. I don't know what it is,
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: but I'm going to show you. So it was kind of, yeah,
• 20:40
  Speaker 2: I mean, I did have that motivation, you know, kind
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: of initially. But that grows. You grow. You know, I was,
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: you know, pretty dominant for a whole decade. You know,
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: my first world championship title was in 78. And my
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: last world-class competition was the Olympic Games in 88. Right. Right.
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: It was kind of a decade of dominance. And that
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: is all due to, you know, my my coach, Juan O'Brien.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: We were an incredible team. Right.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: So in between there, you did go to college. You
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: got an athletic scholarship.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: And then what did you major in?
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: Drama.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Drama.
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. I'm an actor. Yeah. So drama, minor in dance.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: So you really followed that passion throughout. Your life, it
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: sounds like.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: Your life. Yeah, I mean, it's funny because people think
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: that I'm really super competitive because of all of the
• 21:43
  Speaker 2: things that I've done. And I'm not. I'm not competitive.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: For me, it's always about the performance. And that's what
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: Ron O'Brien understood. And so we would play games. He
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: would design these games. In order to break 700 on
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: 10 meter platforms, I had to average eight and a
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: halves or better on all 10 dives that I executed.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: So some of our training sessions were, we would play
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: the 700 game. And so I would go through my
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: list of dives and it'd be jumping back and forth
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: over that eight and a half mark. And sometimes I
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: was successful. Sometimes I wasn't, but I did that in
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: practice before I ever did it at the Olympic games
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: in 88. 84 is when I broke 700 on a
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: 10-year platform.
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: Right. So in 1980, you didn't go to the Olympics
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: because the U.S. boycotted the Olympics in Moscow, but you
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: were expected to win a gold then. So then you
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: went in 1984. You were probably at your peak of fitness.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: You had been training. How did it feel going into
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: that Olympics?
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: You know, I knew, well, I had announced my retirement.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: I was planning on retiring after that Olympic Games. So,
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: you know, I knew, you know, I had to wait
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: eight years. The interesting thing is I didn't feel like
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: I deserved to be competing on the world stage until
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: after the 82 World Championships. This was two years after
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: the Olympic Games in 1980. She calls it other mommy.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: You look like you. What?
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: From Blumhouse, executive producer of Obsession.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: It was me. Why was it me?
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: And James Wan, producer of Back Rooms.
• 23:35
  Speaker 4: You don't have to.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Be scared, mommy. She's nice.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Can I go into your heart?
• 23:41
  Speaker 3: There's nothing like a mother's love.
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: We'll have so much fun together.
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: And I remember it was Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Alexander Portanoff
• 23:58
  Speaker 3: was introduced as Olympic gold medalist, 1980.
• 24:01
  Speaker 2: And I was introduced as Olympic silver medalist, 1976. And
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: I remember at that competition when we were being introduced,
• 24:10
  Speaker 2: smiling to myself and thinking, you got the gold because
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: I wasn't there. And so I always wanted my performance
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: to speak for itself. I didn't want to have to
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: speak for my performance. And so I was just determined.
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: And at that competition, I was the last diver and
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: it was the last dive. And I looked at the
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: scoreboard to make sure that the dive number was correct.
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: And I saw my score flashing. So that meant I
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: didn't have to do my dive. I already won. Oh, wow.
• 24:46
  Speaker 2: And it was I think it's still the highest margin
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: that any world championships ever been been won.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it must have felt incredible.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it did. It did, because it was it was
• 25:01
  Speaker 2: making a statement without having to say it to say
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: lies to put into words. Right. Let performance speak for itself.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: So the 1984 Olympics is where you secure your place
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: in history. You won a gold in both the springboard
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: and the platform. From that, you said you were planning
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: on retiring, but obviously you didn't. So did you get
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: some endorsements? Were you planning on being on a Wheaties box?
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Like what was the goal there?
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: So I got my Olympic gold medals after the 84
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: Olympic Games, went to the nationals, the USA diving nationals.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: I broke Cynthia Potter's record for national titles. And I
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: was ready to move on. But I was also one
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: of the athlete representatives to push for trust funds to
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: be put into place for athletes after college. They can
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: do the endorsements. They can do the speaking engagements, exhibitions
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: and all that. And that money they can draw on
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: for their training expenses.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: Sure.
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: And so I went to the president of USA Diving
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: at that time and I said, Phil, what's going on
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: with trust funds? He said, well, the only one that
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: it affects is you. And so we don't have to
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: spend the money on attorneys to get it put into place.
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: And I said, fine, I'm not retiring. Do your homework.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: So my intent was to stay eligible long enough to
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: get the trust funds put into place for the divers
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: that I felt like that was going to be my legacy.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: And so it took two years to get it done.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: And I found myself at the World Championships in Madrid
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: and I won. And Ron O'Brien came to me and said, well,
• 26:40
  Speaker 2: what are you going to do? You know, he said,
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: it's just two more years to the next Olympics and
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: you won the world championships. I said, yeah, I can
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: hang on for two more years.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: And had you gotten a big endorsement at that point?
• 26:54
  Speaker 3: No, no.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, there were so many, you know, rumors of
• 26:59
  Speaker 2: my sexuality and all that. And, you know, a lot
• 27:02
  Speaker 2: of people stayed away, you know, from, you know, from that.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: It was, it was really a different time. It was
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: a different time.
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: So, Was it known in the public that you were
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: gay or just within your community of divers, swimmers, people
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: doing that?
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: It was speculated. I mean, any of the articles that
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: that was one thing back then, you know, a lot
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: of the sports reporters, they were respected that, you know,
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: I don't talk about my personal life. Right. And so
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: they respected that, but there was, you know, planning to
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: read between the lines. I was out to friends and
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: family and, you know, people who were close to me,
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: you know, it wasn't, it wasn't an issue, but I
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: did sign with the William Morris agency right after the
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: 84 Olympic games. And some of the agents said, you know,
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: just tone down the gay thing. I'm like, okay. So yeah,
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, and I felt I justified it that everybody's
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: entitled to a personal life. And so that was kind
• 28:11
  Speaker 2: of how I conducted myself.
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to ask you, you know, well, obviously
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: the stigma there, you know, was what prevented then a
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: lot of these endorsements. And, but at the time, I mean,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: I even remember as a kid watching you and I was,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: you know, in 1984, I was probably nine. But, you know,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: I remember thinking you were the greatest. And at that age,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: you're not thinking about somebody's sexuality. But, you know, so
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: you affect people in different ways. But so I want
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: to ask you, did you get nervous when you were diving?
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Did you have any superstitions like that you would do
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: or think before you would get up on the platform?
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: No. It was interesting because Ron O'Brien, he knew like
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: if I was going to hit a dive or not,
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: because everything was just there's a rhythm. Right. And I
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: had a very distinct rhythm. If I went too quickly
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: or not soon enough, chances are you'd probably miss the dive.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: But there's a rhythm. But also, as far as having
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: any superstitions or anything like that, I learned early on
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: that You know, stuff happens. You may have your lucky
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: chamois and it may get sucked up in the gutter,
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: you know. So you just not to hang on too
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: preciously to those. you know, those little quirks or habits or,
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: you know, superstitions.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: Right, right. I think a lot of us have seen you,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: seen the videos of you preparing and standing right before
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: you dive. Are you thinking anything or are you clearing
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: your mind? What are you doing in those seconds before
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: you dive?
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: Well, okay. So if you think about it, a dive
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: takes less than three seconds. So you have less than
• 30:09
  Speaker 2: three seconds. And so in that three seconds is your creation.
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: And in that creation, is total chaos. Because there's no mirrors,
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: there's no wires, there's nothing, it's a free fall. And
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: so every creation is different. So you can't reproduce something
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: that's already passed. It'll be different. So you have to
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: be open to make all of those adjustments to be
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: as successful as you can be at that moment in time.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: So would you have to prepare and think what you
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: were about to do or it just came to your
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: body naturally?
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: Well, it would depend, you know, like it depends on
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: what the dive was. There may be, you know, one thing,
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: you know, one point that, you know, I'm thinking about
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: reverse three and a half, relaxing your shoulders. But oftentimes
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: it's more of a pep talk. that you're having with yourself.
• 31:18
  Speaker 2: And one of the things when I was ever in
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: a tight situation, I would always remind myself, no matter
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: what happens, my mother's still gonna love me. And at
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: the last dive of my competitive career in Seoul, Korea,
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: my reverse three and a half, Shen Ni was leading,
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: going into that dive, I had to hit my last dive,
• 31:45
  Speaker 2: And I had a higher degree of difficulty, so I
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: didn't have to beat him in score. I just had
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: to match him. And I remember thinking to myself, no
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: matter what happens, my mother's still going to love me.
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: And then this image came into my head that my
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: mother's sitting at home watching it on TV because they
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: were home. They weren't at the Olympic Games. And then
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: I do this bomb of a dive. The splash goes
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: all the way up to the 10-meter platform when you're
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: not supposed to make a splash. And then my mother
• 32:13
  Speaker 2: bouncing up and down on the couch, clapping, saying, oh,
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: wasn't that a pretty splash? That would be my mom.
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: And it just made me laugh. So you learn different
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: techniques to get yourself in that space away from your
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: left brain, which is judgment and maintain your right brain,
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: which is performance. Yeah.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: So now we're talking about the Olympics in 1988 in Seoul.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: Where was your mindset coming in to that Olympics?
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: You know, Ron O'Brien and I were really distracted going
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: into that Olympic Games because, one, I was the odds-on
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: favorite going in because I was world champion and previous
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Olympic champion. And Also six months prior to that Olympic games,
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: I was diagnosed with HIV. And at that time in 88,
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: we thought of HIV as a death sentence.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: So it's like, if you get diagnosed with HIV in 88,
• 33:23
  Speaker 2: then basically you have two years.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: Get your tears in order, you know, if that. So
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: there were all of these things. I remember Ron O'Brien's son-in-law. They, they,
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: committed suicide, you know, when we were at the trials and, uh,
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: you know, I mean, there were so many things happening
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: in both of our lives. And so we were really distracted.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: I think when I hit my head on, on the springboard,
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: that was, it was kind of like a wake up call,
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: you know, to pay attention that nothing's guaranteed, anything can happen. And, um,
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: And he also, he gave me a choice. He said,
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: you know what, after I hit my head on the springboard,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: you know, I thought I was out of the competition,
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: but then found out that I think I was in
• 34:20
  Speaker 2: fifth place. So I would have made finals, but I
• 34:22
  Speaker 2: did have to do my last two dives. So it
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: really kind of got us to focus. And he told me,
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: he said, you don't have to go back out there.
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: You know, you don't.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: Have to get back out there. You just hit your
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: head on the board. That's very traumatic. You know, and
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: I just turned to him kind of a knee jerk
• 34:44
  Speaker 2: reaction and said, I don't want to give up without
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: a fight. Right. And so that's when she calls it
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: other mommy.
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: You look like you.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: What?
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: From Blumhouse, executive producer of Obsession.
• 34:59
  Speaker 2: It was me. Why was it me?
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: And James Wan produced her back rooms.
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: You don't have to be.
• 35:04
  Speaker 4: Scared, Mommy.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: She's nice.
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: Can I go into your heart?
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: Hold on! Run!
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: There's nothing like a mother's love.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: We'll have so much fun together.
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: Other Mommy, directed by Rob Savage. In cinemas October 9.
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: Book tickets now.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: Ryan White. who was a buddy of mine. He's the
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: young boy in Indiana that contracted HIV through his clotting factor.
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: He's a hemophiliac. And he fought for the right for
• 35:36
  Speaker 2: other kids in the same position for education. And he
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: was a fighter. And so he was my inspiration to
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: kind of get back out there and fight for it. Wow.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: So let's talk about that moment for a second. Was
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: it like any other dive? Have you done that dive?
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: How many times have you done that dive before?
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: Oh, God.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: I don't even know. I mean, probably definitely in the hundreds,
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: maybe in the thousands. Right.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: And how difficult of a dive was it that you
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: were about to do?
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: Well, you know what? Reverse two and a half pike
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: was really difficult. solid dive for me and i mean
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: it was one of my best dives and uh you
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: know when i was going doing my approach taking off
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: the board i knew i was going to be close
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: because i stood up a little straight and so when
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: i came out of the dive i brought my hands
• 36:35
  Speaker 2: in close to my body so that they wouldn't hit
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: because that's what you're usually worried about is hitting your
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: hand or your arm um And I thought I was
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: well past the board. And then I heard this big
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: hollow thud and I go crashing in the water thinking,
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: what the hell was that? And I go, oh my God,
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: it was my head. My first emotion, I was embarrassed
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: because I was thinking, oh my God, I hit my
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: head on the diving board in front of the world.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: And I was trying to think, you know, how can
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: I get out of the pool without anybody seeing me?
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: I mean, I was just so embarrassed.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: It wasn't painful. It must have been shooting pain or
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: a headache.
• 37:14
  Speaker 2: No, no, because it's you're in the midst of a competition.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: It's a high level competition. So you don't feel anything
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: because you have the adrenaline going and all that. You know,
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: it's not. And also there were reports blood in the
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: pool and all that stuff, which is total crap. Because
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: when you get a cut like that, especially in that environment,
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: it takes a while before it starts bleeding.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: But at the time, there was so much fear and
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: ignorance around AIDS and HIV, and nobody knew you had
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: it besides just your coach, right? Maybe a few other
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: people that were close to you. But what was going
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: through your head? Because at the time, did we know
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: how you could contract it? Did we know how dangerous
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: it was?
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, really, the only ones that were in,
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: it's blood-to-blood contact. So the only ones that were really
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: putting any, you know, concern would be the doctors who
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: were sewing my head up, you know, Dr. Ben Rubin
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: and Dr. James Puffer.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Which he did do without using gloves. Did that worry you?
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: They didn't have gloves. You know, this is 88. This
• 38:28
  Speaker 2: is not, you know, that was not... those considerations, you know,
• 38:34
  Speaker 2: it was so far fetched that anything like that might
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: happen that they, you know, didn't have bloods. Yeah. Right.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: When you first heard that you had HIV, did you,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: how did you feel?
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, well, I thought life was over. Yeah. Cause I
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: went in or I was having an, I had an
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: ear issue. And so I went into the doctor and said, oh,
• 39:03
  Speaker 2: by the way, you know, I'd like to do an
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: HIV test anonymously. And so my cousin, who was my
• 39:13
  Speaker 2: doctor in Florida, you know, he did it. And he said, oh,
• 39:16
  Speaker 2: you don't have anything to worry about, blah, blah, blah.
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: And so I did it. But then when it came
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: back positive, then my thought was, because I was training
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: in Florida, i was lit my home was in california
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: and so i thought if i was to hiv positive
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: i'm not going to waste my coach's time and everybody
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: else's time i'm going to pack up my bags go
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: back to my home lock myself in my house and
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: wait to die because that's what we thought of hiv
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: at that time was there And so when Chris came
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: over and told me that I was HIV positive, I
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: just assumed I would be packing up and going home.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: And he encouraged me to stay. He said, the healthiest
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: thing for you is to stay and train. We don't
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: know how long you've been positive and you've worked so
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: hard to get to where you're at. And that's probably
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: the healthiest thing I can do for myself. And it
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: was easier to focus on the diving because it gave
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: me something to look forward to. I didn't get obsessed
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: with the diagnosis. Right. Right.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: And I love that he gave you a purpose and
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: a hope sort of. So now take me back to
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: the moment where you just gotten your stitches in and
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: you're getting back on the board because you said you
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: were in fifth or something and you had to do
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: your other dives to qualify. How was your confidence level?
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Were you nervous you were going to hit your head again?
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah. I mean, I, cause I didn't know, you know,
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: people said, how did you get over that? You don't
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: have time to get over that in order to get
• 40:57
  Speaker 2: over something you need to process and you go through that.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, you understand with trauma, you know,
• 41:04
  Speaker 2: it takes time for that to unfold. I didn't have time.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: And so I just had to set that aside. Like
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: it never happened. Right. And I remember, you know, I
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: set the fulcrum, they made it, they announced the dive,
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: which is going in the same direction, reverse one and
• 41:23
  Speaker 2: a half with three and a half twists. And I
• 41:25
  Speaker 2: could hear an audible gasp from the audience. And I
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: took a deep breath and patted my chest because I
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: felt like my heart was pounding outside my chest. And
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: then the people in the vicinity who saw that laughed.
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: And I started laughing because they were scared for me
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: and I was scared for me. I didn't know what
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: was going to happen. And so, you know, right before
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: I went, I just thought, you know, this is the
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: Olympic Games. You can't hold back. So and as it
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: turned out, it was the highest scoring dive of that
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: that Olympic Games.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: And you ended up qualifying, you ended up getting the
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: gold and then, and then you got the gold on
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: the 10 meter platform, like you were discussing earlier against
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: the Chinese. Correct. Was keeping that secret exhausting for you?
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: Oh my God.
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: So exhausting. You know, it was just terrifying. Right. It
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: was really hard, but you know, and also what was
• 42:26
  Speaker 2: going on at that same time, I was also in
• 42:29
  Speaker 2: an abusive relationship. Right.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: By the person that you got it from?
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: No, not necessarily. No, I mean, a lot of people
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: want to say that because, you know, it's easier for them,
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: you know, but chances are we were probably both positive
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: when we got together. Because my partner before, and this
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: is before we knew about safe sex and all that stuff,
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: he died of HIV.
• 43:01
  Speaker 4: Has he?
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: Patients with AIDS. So chances are he was positive. I
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: was positive and we just didn't know it.
• 43:07
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Right. Um, so after the Olympics, uh, in 88, you
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: did retire finally from diving, correct? That wasn't happened. Um,
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: so what is it like for a professional athlete who
• 43:19
  Speaker 1: has dedicated the majority of his life to the sport?
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: How do you do your second act? How do you
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: find purpose? How do you define who you are? I
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: think that's really hard for all, a lot of professional athletes.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. I mean, it really is a difficult transition.
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: It is because then you have to kind of embrace
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: a new identity, you know, and embracing that new identity.
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: Who is that person?
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: Right. So what did you do for a paycheck after that?
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: I did a lot of speaking, did a lot of
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: speaking engagements, personal appearances and, That was mostly a bit
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: of acting here and there. I did Cinderella, Long Beach
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: Civic Light Opera. I did a one-man show in New York.
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: I was in Jeffrey for about six months in New York.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: I did a lot of different stuff. I mean, it's
• 44:16
  Speaker 2: interesting because I really have climbed a lot of mountains
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: and varied. I remember when I was at the University
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: of Miami, I was doing Equus. And Jimmy Puig was
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: our Dr. Dysart. And he came to me and said, Greg,
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: I understand. I know Greg Louganis, the actor, but I
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: understand you died as well. I was like, yeah, I'm
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: kind of on scholarship for that. But, you know, it's
• 44:40
  Speaker 2: just I always wanted to be accepted in whatever I
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: was doing, whether it was dance or acting, you know,
• 44:48
  Speaker 2: to be embraced on my own merit for whatever activity
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: that was. Right.
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: So eventually you decide to write a book and you
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: go on Barbara Walters and Oprah and you announce to
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: the world that you are gay and you are HIV positive, correct?
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: At a time when you don't do that kind of shit.
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: What made you do it?
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: You didn't have to do it, right? So why did
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: you choose to do that?
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: I felt that it was the next step in my progression,
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: in who I was, because I felt like I was
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: with all these secrets. I felt like I was living
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: on an island with barely a phone for communication to
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: the outside world. And so by letting go of those
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: secrets and I knew I was probably not alone. I
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: think that that was, you know, that was key. You know,
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: if I was suffering like I was, then I'm sure
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: I'm not the only one.
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: So how was that received by the public?
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: My mother was really terrified for me. I had a
• 46:03
  Speaker 2: lot of friends who were very, very concerned. But it
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: was amazing. When I was on book tour, I mean,
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: thousands of people were showing up. And saying, oh my God,
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: you saved my life. Right. You....
• 46:19
  Speaker 4: They think you're done for the day, but they don't
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: know about the drawer.
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: The drawer.
• 46:26
  Speaker 4: Just the one square before bed.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: Or two, you know. Nobody's watching.
• 46:34
  Speaker 2: You deserve a treat.
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: With eight flavors to choose from, you can choose the
• 46:41
  Speaker 4: flavor you favor with Cadbury Dairy Milk.
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: It helped me come out to my friends and family
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: about whatever, you know, your sexual identity, HIV, leave an
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: abusive relationship, you know, all of these kind of things
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: that people connected with.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: Right. And you became sort of the spokesman for what
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: you had gone through and your, you know, trauma or,
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: you know, the shame or the grief that basically everyone feels.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: And you were able to sort of get it out
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: of you and that gave hope to other people to
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: do the same.
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really was incredible. I mean, the book tour
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: was so emotional. Eric Marcus, my co-author and you know,
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: we would be in tears, you know, just joyful tears.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's got to feel good touching people like that.
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: Knowing that you made a difference for someone else, that
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: your pain happened to be able to make someone feel
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: connected and make a difference. So you then went on
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: to do some advocacy, right, for HIV and LGBTQ. Talk
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: to me about that.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, I mean, coming out is a process. First
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: person you have to come out to is yourself. And
• 48:15
  Speaker 2: you can be coming out about an illness. You can
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: be coming out about who you're dating. It's a process
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: in accepting and embracing who you are.
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: And just like everyone else, you've definitely had some highs
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: and lows. You talk about it in your book. What
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: was it like to live in the nothing, to live
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: in the low for some of the time as you
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: talk about?
• 48:43
  Speaker 3: Who you're dating.
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, some of the lows are pretty, yeah.
• 48:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, I've had really high highs and really
• 48:52
  Speaker 2: low lows. How do you get through the low lows?
• 48:57
  Speaker 2: I would always remind myself, whatever's going on is temporary. Yeah.
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: Who you shall pass.
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. And the thing is, you also have to
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: be willing to let go of the good.
• 49:15
  Speaker 3: Stuff, too.
• 49:16
  Speaker 2: You know, it's like you can't. hang on to oh
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: I'm an Olympic champion I'm a world record holder you
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: know if you hold on to that too tightly and
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: then it goes you know it then somebody breaks your
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: record you know you you know you you aren't happy
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: trying to hold on to something that you are no longer.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: Right, that you were.
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: That you were, right.
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: So what advice would you give to people that are
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: sort of stuck in their first act? Because I know
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: it's so hard to move to your second act, to
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: find your purpose, to find what makes you happy after
• 49:57
  Speaker 1: you've hit this major high and you feel like that
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: was who you were and you'll be nothing else without that.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: Talk to people about what it's like to move on
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: from that and reinvent yourself.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Well, it's funny because oftentimes what happens is... Especially if
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: you're an Olympic champion and you do this, then people
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: start defining you. They start saying, oh, you are this,
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: so you have to be that. And so they choose
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: your path. And as people pleasers, oftentimes we go for
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: that ride for a while.
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 50:37
  Speaker 2: And so then when somebody asks, well, what do you want?
• 50:42
  Speaker 2: What does Greg Louganis want? Mm-hmm. I mean, I had
• 50:46
  Speaker 2: to take two weeks and meditate over that. It's like,
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: what is it that really drives me, that sparks that interest,
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: that sparks that flame? And what do you come up with?
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: And the thing that came up for me was dogs
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: and health and wellness. Because I had two concussions in
• 51:11
  Speaker 2: my diving career. I've had issues with that. You know,
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: trying to be go on a more natural approach, you know,
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: to issues of mental health and as well as physical health.
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: How I'm doing, you know, trying to maneuver through the
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: world in in a positive, healthy way.
• 51:37
  Speaker 1: Right. So you also picked up, you mentored in the
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: diving community, which sounds amazing and right up your alley, obviously.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: And then you talk about training and showing dogs. Um,
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: you're still doing that, right? Is that one of the
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: things you continue?
• 51:52
  Speaker 2: Well, um, so I, uh, I was working with the
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: athletes in preparation for London. Um, and it, it was
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: so funny because like when I first started working with them, um,
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: I The US has been pretty dominant in the sport
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: of diving. And then after my retirement, then we got
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: one medal in 2000, which was Laura Wilkinson. We got
• 52:22
  Speaker 2: zero medals in 04 and they added synchronized diving. So
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: we had four more shots at medals and we got nothing. 2008,
• 52:30
  Speaker 2: we got nothing. And then when I started working with
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: the kids, I said, okay, what's your ultimate diving goal?
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: And they'd say, make the Olympic team. And then I'd say,
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: and then what? And they look at each other, it's like,
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: make the Olympic team. And I said, well, don't you
• 52:49
  Speaker 2: want to get on the podium? Don't you want to win?
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: You know, like none of them had that in their
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: training process. You have to train for that stuff. Right.
• 53:02
  Speaker 2: It's not just going to happen. Yeah, so once I
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: started working with them, changing their mindset, they got four
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: medals in 2012, three medals in 2016.
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: Wow, so you made a difference. And you're still doing
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: the dog stuff, right?
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, still doing the dog stuff. And actually, I love
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: the dog stuff because they're so pure. They're not going
• 53:27
  Speaker 2: to hold grudges. They're not going to second guess. They're
• 53:38
  Speaker 2: just really, truly honest.
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: You do training or you do agility. What exactly do
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: you do with them? I see you on your Instagram.
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: It looks great.
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: Well, I train. I compete in dog agility.
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: With your own dog or with others?
• 53:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I have trained other dogs and run other people's
• 54:00
  Speaker 2: dogs for them. Really? And, but I have G who's
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: my Hungarian Pooley. He's got a lot of talent and
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: have hopes for world team for him. And then Pax,
• 54:15
  Speaker 2: Pax is a Perennian shepherd.
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, wow.
• 54:18
  Speaker 2: And she does agility too. It's just that she, it's not,
• 54:25
  Speaker 2: she'll do it because daddy wants her to.
• 54:26
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: So can any dog do it if they're trained? Like,
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: can I train my Pomeranian or my rescue pit bull
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: to be doing agility or they have to be born
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: with it?
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: No, no, you can train. Yeah. Because physically, you know,
• 54:43
  Speaker 2: they may be limited, you know, to how fast they
• 54:46
  Speaker 2: can go and what they're capable of doing. But given
• 54:50
  Speaker 2: the right education, you know, any dog, Almost any dog.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm actually surprised at some of the dogs
• 54:59
  Speaker 2: that I see videos of, you know, the Mastiff doing agility.
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: There was a Great Dane in Arizona that used to
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: do competitive agility and he was really good.
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: With those long legs? Yeah.
• 55:19
  Speaker 2: I mean, he'd actually have to crawl through the tunnel
• 55:21
  Speaker 2: to get through. It was just like, it was... Pretty amazing.
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that must have been great to watch. Wow. So,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: and you're going to continue to do that?
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: Or that makes you happy, obviously, I can tell.
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I've got it. I just did a workshop
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: yesterday with an international judge slash competitor. And yeah, it
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: was fascinating. It was great because I was away from
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: dog agility for about 10 years and now I'm coming
• 55:53
  Speaker 2: back And so much has changed. So there's a lot
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: of new stuff I have to learn. Right.
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: It's always changing. So what is going on in your
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: life now? What do people have to look forward to
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: with you and seeing you?
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: Well, we're still working on that podcast, but also I'm
• 56:14
  Speaker 2: taking it upon myself to, there was talk about a
• 56:17
  Speaker 2: biopic and I'm digging in myself, you know, to write biopics.
• 56:22
  Speaker 2: to start writing the script. So, um, yeah, so I,
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: you know, cause I, it just struck me. I was
• 56:29
  Speaker 2: just at the Olympian and Paralympian reunion a few weeks
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: back and I, I was just somehow reminded. It just
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: came to me that, you know, if you don't, if
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: you don't write your own story, you're allowing other people
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: to write it for you. Right. And, and it, it
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: doesn't always reflect who you are. And I really want
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: something to reflect who I am.
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: And who would you say you think you are?
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: Well, there's a lot of things that I've done that
• 57:06
  Speaker 2: a lot of people are not aware of. Um, because
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: other people have taken credit for it and, um, uh, So, and,
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: and also, um, just not being one to toot my
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: own horn, which is really weird. Cause like we're in
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: a society now where it's like, oh, you've got to
• 57:26
  Speaker 2: stand up for yourself and speak up, you know, and
• 57:28
  Speaker 2: tell everybody what, you know, and they're bragging about all
• 57:32
  Speaker 2: the things they've done. I, the way that I was
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: raised is let my performance speak for itself, do, and
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: it will be returned to you. Right. So, um, yeah,
• 57:44
  Speaker 2: so it's a very different mentality. Yeah.
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: And I love what you just said, because that's actually
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: why I started this podcast and named it misunderstood is
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: because there are people like you, like me, like so
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: many that their lives have sort of been narrated for
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: them by the media, by, um, the, you know, public that,
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: you know, feeds on what the media says and they,
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: just know about one thing most people probably just know
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: that you're the greatest olympic diver ever or the greatest
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: diver in history right but they don't know all the
• 58:18
  Speaker 1: parts to you because there's so much more than that
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: and as a person you know you feel and we
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: feel like you know you want to share who you
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: are not just that one bit because that was something
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: you did once But there's so much more to you
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: that makes you just as great as that. So that's
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: literally why I started this podcast and wanted you on specifically,
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: because I think that's a huge, huge message for people
• 58:44
  Speaker 1: and important for people to know.
• 58:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. And, you know, just because somebody speaks,
• 58:52
  Speaker 2: you know, they they're a public speaker or if they're actors,
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: it doesn't necessarily mean that they are extroverts. It's assumed
• 59:05
  Speaker 2: that they're extroverts and they're looking to gain attention. or whatever,
• 59:10
  Speaker 2: attention seeking or whatever. And that is not true for
• 59:18
  Speaker 2: many of us. Yeah. All right.
• 59:20
  Speaker 1: I just have a few more questions before we go.
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: What is the biggest misconception of HIV and AIDS today,
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: do you think?
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: I'm not sure, you know, because I can't speak for everybody.
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: I think that, you know, I think there's still some
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: stigma surrounding it. But I, you know, I don't know
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: what that is. You know, I don't understand it because
• 59:45
  Speaker 2: there's so much good information that's out there, you know,
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: of how you get HIV, but also how you don't
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: get HIV. Also, for those that recently seroconvert that it
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: can potentially be manageable. And so to be mindful, you know,
• 1:00:07
  Speaker 2: if you're undetectable, then you're untransmittable. Yeah.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: And well, I think that it's changed so much since,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: you know, when you were diagnosed, since I was little,
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 1: the fear really has gone away. It's no longer seen
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: as just, you know, a gay disease. Anyone can get it.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: But it's not seen as necessarily a death sentence at all.
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: It's manageable. It can be, you know, you can live
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: a long, healthy life and have no signs of it eventually. Correct?
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: So you've been very... helpful in the LGBTQ community at
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: spreading awareness. I wanted to ask you your thoughts on
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: politicians like DeSantis, what they've done in Florida, the don't
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: say gay rule. Should children be able to learn about
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: sexuality in school? If that happened when you were younger,
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: would that have helped you feel better about what you
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: were going through?
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: Oh, sure. I mean, that, you know, it's important that,
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 2: you know, we give, you know, as much accurate information
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: out there i mean it's uh you're not gonna catch
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: it um and so uh and also i'm gonna add
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 2: a conversation with a neuroscientist um who leading a researcher
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 2: for about uh sexual identity gender identity you know all
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: of that He explained, you know, what his findings were.
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: And it's like, yeah, you know, when they say that
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 2: you're born gay, you are. And he has research to,
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: you know, to prove that. And so having those understandings.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: knocking down, you know, when you have new thoughts, you know,
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 2: your beliefs are a thought that you continue to think.
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: If there's a flaw in those thoughts, then you have
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: to change your beliefs. So it's trying to get people
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: to change beliefs, which is really challenging to do because
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 2: people want to hold on to beliefs like, They're, you know,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: like they're true, but you get more facts and understand
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: that it's, you know, maybe those facts aren't correct. Right. Right.
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: There's a bill being considered that would give doctors and
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: insurance companies the right to deny care to the LGBTQ
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: plus community. How do you feel about that?
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 2: Oh, gosh. I mean, it's so silly, you know, that
• 1:02:50
  Speaker 2: we are, you know, you need to look at a
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: whole person. Being LGBTQAI, you know, whatever letter that is,
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 2: that I am, it does not define who I am.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: There's a whole human being behind each individual. And each individual,
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 2: I mean, all, all we want to do is be,
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: you know, loved, you know, and everybody is, you know, that,
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 2: that is a human right.
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: Right. Regarding sports, there have been protests around races featuring
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 1: trans women. Should biological men that become women be able
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 1: to compete in sports in your opinion?
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 3: It does.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 2: In my opinion, I, you know, I, It does have
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 2: a different perspective because of an incident that happened after
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: the 80, in 88, I was diagnosed with HIV. They
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 2: put me on AZT right away because they wanted to
• 1:03:53
  Speaker 2: treat me very aggressively. One of the side effects from
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 2: AZT or HIV, low testosterone. And early on in my training,
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 2: hitting the gym, breaking everything down before it builds up.
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 2: I was literally crawling from my bed to the bathroom
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 2: to pour myself the hottest bath to sink into for
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 2: 20 minutes before I could even touch my toes. I
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 2: just thought I was overtraining, but I didn't have my
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 2: testosterone tested, but I'm sure that that's what it was.
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 2: I was low testosterone. And so I'd Don't believe that
• 1:04:38
  Speaker 2: once somebody goes on to hormone therapy, then it's the
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 2: advantage that all these people are trying to make it
• 1:04:47
  Speaker 2: out to be that you go through this, you know,
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: testosterone wash and your puberty and all that. Granted, you
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 2: can't take away the training that you've already done. Right.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: once you go onto hormone therapy, there's not a whole
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: lot of advantage. So I think in, in time, if
• 1:05:10
  Speaker 2: you will see that, you know, and, and understand that
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 2: I just hope, uh, cause the IOC basically lied about
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 2: the whole testosterone thing. So we thought that it was
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 2: based in research, but we've learned that it it's not
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 2: based in research. It was just a, jab in the
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: dark at a number. And so they lied to us.
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 2: Now we have to embrace that information and not hold
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 2: so firmly to our previous belief.
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: Right. You've had such a tremendous career as an athlete
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: and an advocate. What stands out to you as your
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: biggest accomplishment?
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 2: Definitely my biggest accomplishment to date, uh, definitely was my
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 2: book breaking the surface because that was so impactful at
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 2: a time when it was needed. Yeah. And so that was, uh,
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 2: you know, that was really incredibly powerful. Yeah.
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 1: Great book. I did read it. How do you want
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: to be remembered?
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 2: If I'm remembered as a diver, uh, I hope they
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 2: think of me as being strong and graceful. And as
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 2: a human being that I made a difference.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 3: It does.
• 1:06:28
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. What can we expect to see you in, in
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: the near future? Your podcast, is that coming out soon?
• 1:06:35
  Speaker 2: Podcast. Hopefully it's coming out soon. Where do people find you? Yeah,
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 2: you can find me, all my social is at Greg
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 2: Louganis and greglouganis.com. It's my website.
• 1:06:51
  Speaker 1: And do you read your DMs? Do you answer people's responses? Like,
• 1:06:55
  Speaker 1: do you care what people are writing to you?
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 2: Sometimes, yeah. Sometimes I get on there and I, you know,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 2: peruse and say, yeah, I mean, and especially, oh my God,
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 2: I just got an email from somebody thanking me for
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: responding to a stranger in Houston and about, it was
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 2: about the medication, you know, the HIV medications and all that,
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: one of the side effects and all that. And I
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 2: answered them, which I, it's random, you know, sometimes I
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 2: get to it, sometimes I don't, but it was really,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 2: really sweet. So yes, I do. I don't read everything. But,
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: you know, there's chances are, depending on You know, what's
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 2: going on, how I connect with that and all that.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: So I respond sometimes.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 3: Good. All right.
• 1:07:47
  Speaker 1: So people listening, you can write him on Instagram and
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 1: you may get a response. So, Greg, you have reinvented
• 1:07:55
  Speaker 1: yourself time and time again. I think you're a true hero.
• 1:07:58
  Speaker 1: You definitely have changed people's lives. And I can't wait
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 1: to see what you do next. I look forward to
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 1: the podcast. I look forward to any movie that comes out,
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 1: whatever it is, I will be watching. So thank you
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: for joining me.
• 1:08:10
  Speaker 2: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
• 1:08:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening to our podcast, Misunderstood
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: with Rachel Uchitel. Please be sure to subscribe to the
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: show and give us a five-star rating and review if
• 1:08:23
  Speaker 1: you like what you hear. You can support the show
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: by joining our Patreon at patreon.com. Do you have ideas
• 1:08:31
  Speaker 1: for the show or guests that you want us to
• 1:08:33
  Speaker 1: reach out to? Please email us at infomisunderstoodpodcast at gmail.com.
• 1:08:38
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much, and I can't wait to see
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 1: you next time.
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