Greg Louganis should be a household name for every reason
except the reason that he IS a household name.
Louganis was the best diver in the world
for more than a decade.
He won four Olympic gold medals
despite missing the 1980 Games because of an American boycott.
But no matter how blessed Louganis was as an athlete,
nor how long his list of honours,
he will always be remembered for one Olympic Games moment
more than any other.
But you'll forgive him if his own memory
is not so crystal clear.
Seoul, 1988.
This is Louganis's ninth dive
in the preliminary round of the men's springboard competition.
That contact was about 70mph. Ouch.
Louganis's accident is one of the most replayed moments
of sports footage in history.
Here are those two seconds again, just for good measure.
But what's weird about this particular strange moment
is how little impact that hit actually had on
Louganis' overall performance.
Greg Louganis was a remarkable athlete, a true great.
In Montreal in 1976, he was 16
and only just missed out on the gold medal.
The champion, Klaus Dibiasi,
whispered in his ear and told him
he would be the best in the world.
Louganis and his coaches already knew.
He continued to rise through the ranks.
At the World Championships in Ecuador in 1982,
Louganis became the first diver
ever to achieve a perfect ten from all seven judges.
It took him to Los Angeles in 1984,
where Louganis was a world apart.
His springboard tally
of 754.41 points was nearly 100 more
than his closest challenger.
It was gold medal number one,
and a second one came with
the highest score in the platform.
Not just the highest score that year -
the highest score ever.
So onwards to Seoul in 1988.
Louganis was fighting personal demons.
Six months earlier, he had been diagnosed HIV positive,
but told no-one. He thought he was dying.
The ill-fated dive was
a reverse two-and-a-half somersault with pike.
He didn't leap far enough from the board -
a disastrous mistake.
He says he doesn't remember much about it,
merely that he was embarrassed.
The disaster put him fifth in the standings,
but great champions never know when they're beaten.
This dive, not quite half an hour after
the one he is remembered for,
earned him the highest rank of any man that week.
In the final, Louganis aced all 11 dives, including the one
he had botched the day before.
Louganis still won gold in Seoul that year.
Cyclists get back in the saddle,
riders get back on the horse.
As a diver, Louganis got back on the springboard.
Less than 30 minutes later, he was near perfection again.
Another gold medal.
Louganis dived hundreds of times in the Olympic Games
and dived almost all of them better than
anybody else in a generation.
But as a wise man once said, nobody's perfect.