Greg Louganis

Gregory Efthimios Louganis (born January 29, 1960) is an American diver of Samoan/Swedish descent, adopted by a Greek-American family. He won back-to-back Olympic titles in both the 3 m and 10 m events.

Olympic Games

Louganis was a major favorite for two golds in the Moscow Olympics. But an American boycott of the games, instituted by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, in protest of the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, prevented him from participating.

Related Topics:
Moscow Olympics - Boycott - Jimmy Carter - Soviet - Afghanistan

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Four years later, with the Games in Los Angeles, Louganis (who in the mean time had won two world titles in 1982) grabbed his revenge: with record scores and leads over his opponents, Louganis won both the springboard and tower event.

Related Topics:
Games in Los Angeles - 1982

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After winning two more world championship titles in 1986, he repeated his 1984 feat in the 1988 Seoul Olympics, although not without trouble. In one of his jumps in the 3 m springboard event (See the following section about this), Louganis hit the diving board with his head, but the resulting injury proved not heavy enough to stop him from winning the gold medal.

Related Topics:
1986 - 1984 - 1988 Seoul Olympics

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