After we touched on the story of Greg Louganis hitting his
head on the spring board at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul I was curious to
learn some more because we talked about this in one of my classes last semester
too. It had to be a very nerve wracking experience for Louganis and his coach
going to that Olympics in the first place and especially after he hit his head.
Coming out with the information that you had HIV back then, or even worse AIDS,
was like a death sentence. Your whole life could be turned upside down losing
your health insurance along with other allegations like people thinking you
were homosexual, which Louganis is, but didn’t come out with that information
until the 1994 Gay Games.
Louganis said that he felt like the U.S. Olympic Committee
needed to know about his condition even before he went to Seoul but he was
discouraged from telling anyone by his doctor and his coach. I wonder what I
would have done if I was in his shoes, I probably would have felt the same way
as him, like I should tell but when people say not to I’m not sure if I would
have. I was always under the impression that hitting his head caused him to
reveal being HIV positive at the time but from what I have read he still didn’t
tell anyone.
Even the doctor who stitched his head after the accident
said he wasn’t concerned and didn’t even wear latex gloves because according to
some study by the NFL the chances of getting aids just from coming in contact
with someone’s blood was one in a million and I thought that blood was the
easiest way to contract it. They also said that even if the pool water wasn’t chlorinated
there would be a minimal to zero risk of anyone else contracting the disease
but with all the chemicals the other divers would be fine. I guess coming out
with that information would be more necessary in a contact sport like football,
but in Louganis’ case he would never be in contact with another diver so that’s
why he was encouraged to keep quiet.
It’s good that having AIDS today doesn’t mean you are going
to die like people thought it meant in the past but I still think we need to be
aware and take precautions so people don’t spread it to others.
Post By: Matt Goryance
Hey Matt! I first just wanted to say that this was a really well written entry and I really enjoyed reading it. Anyways, when I first heard about this incident, much like yourself I always thought that when he hit his head on the diving board that it caused him to come out as HIV positive. But after reading some other articles and journals, I found out that he actually never told anyone which was really shocking to hear. For me personally, as much as I wouldn’t want to do it, I probably would of told someone of my medical condition ahead of time to not only ensure fairness, but to allow the Olympics to take extra precautions for the health and safety of the athletes. Even if the doctors and coaches advised me not to tell anyone, I still feel like I should do the right thing even though it would probably end my career possibly. But as you touched on, with all of the different chemicals that go into the pool, I feel like the other athletes wouldn’t ever even get near it because the chlorine would just kill off the bacteria. However, if I happened to be that doctor that stitched his head, I definitely would have worn gloves no matter what. Just as a safety precaution cause I wouldn’t have known if he had a rare disease and wouldn’t have wanted to get sick or ill. Finally, I think now a day’s people are more aware and open about the virus and tend to take extra measure to protect themselves from it, but there is still always that small chance that something could go wrong and you get the virus.
ReplyDeleteBy Josh Gibson
Hello there!! In agreement with Josh Gibson, I also found this an interesting blog. I remember I first learned about Greg Louganis' condition last year during the Intro to Sport. I found this shocking that he was able to keep this big secret from all of his friends and the other pool mates. Seeing him hit his head on the diving board was excruciating to watch. Although I thought it was pretty amazing how he at least swam to the edge of the pool and was taken care of immediately. If I had hit my head off the diving board, I would probably would still be in the water until one of the lifeguards rescued me. Any who, after finding out that he was HIV positive and blood got into the pool as well as on the doctor's hands, was a bit scary. All doctors should wear gloves when treating patients. Knowing that chlorine can kill germs and bacteria, I still wouldn't be able to swim in a pool that has a urine in it, let alone blood. I understand why Louganis didn't want to tell people about his secret, but I feel as though its kinda of mandatory for people to be informed. Especially in contact sport, those types of situations should be announced as soon as possible. For example, how Magic Johnson announced that he wouldn't be able to play basketball anymore because of the virus.
ReplyDelete~Angel Akinkuoye~
Being an HIV positive athlete, especially as a homosexual, would be scary in the 1980's. There was such a negative stigma attached to anyone who was HIV positive. Add that to the hyper-critical world of sports, and you have an interesting dillema on your hands.
ReplyDeleteLike you said, being HIV positive was practically considered a death sentence back in those days. I can't imagine how hard it had to be for Greg Louganis to cope with being convinced that he was going to die within the next few years, and being weighed down by the ethical dillema of whether or not to tell the world he was an HIV positive gay man.
Had he announced that he's HIV positive before the 1988 Olympics, I can't imagine any diver would continue to compete after he hit his head and bled in the pool. I know I wouldn't have at that time, knowing as little as they did then.
Keeping the secrets he kept must have been extremely difficult for Louganis, especially being in the international spotlight at such a young age. He seemed to overcome a lot, however, and will forever be known as one of the best divers in history. Not bad for a HIV-positive homosexual man, eh?
By Micah Stein
By: Taylor Cook
ReplyDeleteThe topic of HIV and AIDs has also been a fragile one when it comes to talking about sports and homosexuality. When Magic Johnson announced to the world that he had AIDS it was extremely shocking and some people didn't know how to deal with it. When you look at Magic Johnson now though he is doing everything in his power to help the cause of HIV and AIDS and is essentially the poster boy of how to deal with being an famous athlete and having aids.
The Greg Louganis story is a little bit different because he was essentially told that he was not going to be able to live and fight the disease and that he should just give up. The fact that he was a homosexual male was also not helping his cause any. He not only had to deal with the discrimination that came with having AIDS, but also had to deal with the ridicule from people for being a homosexual male athlete. It is understandable to me at lease why he would want to keep this a secret from everyone because lets be honest, you know he is going to be judged immediately by all of the critics and he felt that his legacy may be tarnished because of both of the things he was hiding. I completely agree with what Micah said above though, he will forever be known as one of the best divers of all time and he did it as a homosexual man who was HIV positive.