Text/Tiger Girl
ESPN, the world's largest sports television network covering 160 countries, is also a leader in sports media. It has several sports magazines, but the most popular is its annual issue of The Body Issue/ Athletes' Celestial Issue. The content is to gather the best athletes, strip them one by one, and show off their proud bodybuilding body shape in front of the camera. This tradition continues into the eighth year of this year.
There is also a gay diving star and a legend - Gregory Efthimios Louganis. He has won 4 gold and 1 silver in the Olympic Games, in addition to winning 5 world championships and 3 World Cup titles, and is known as the "Prince of Air Ballet".
Six months before the 1988 Seoul (now renamed Seoul) Olympics, he was diagnosed with AIDS. Six months later, he won both the platform and the springboard at the Olympic Games in Seoul. After the Seoul Olympics, he was highly praised by the American public and topped the list of selected sports stars.
At the age of 56, he has been battling AIDS for 30 years and still looks young and handsome.
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he was seriously injured by hitting his head on the edge of the jumping platform during the competition, and he had four stitches stitched up, but he continued to compete in the final the next day.
In February 1995, Loganis admitted that he was gay and had contracted AIDS.
Here's a short interview with ESPN
"When I was diagnosed hive positive, we all thought AIDS was going to die." He said in TBI magazine. "I thought I should pack up and go home, and then shut myself in the house and wait for my death." Loganis hid his HIV-positive status at the time. "If they knew I was infected, I would definitely not be able to enter Seoul." He remained silent in pain while preparing and training for the event.
"Diving is something that keeps me positive for me. I was deeply troubled by depression during that time. If the team hadn't trained that day, I wouldn't have gotten out of bed," he recalls. "I just put the quilt over my head. But as long as I have something to do, I will do it... I've always suffered from chronic depression, so even when I was younger, I never thought I would live past 30. ”
Now, nearly three decades later, he appears on ESPN's TBI, becoming the oldest athlete in the magazine. He said he was at his most fit period. He is preparing to travel to the Rio Olympics as an official mentor for the U.S. diving team. But first he had to sit down and talk to ESPN about his HIV life, how he stayed in shape at the age of 56, and the less glamorous Seoul head-to-head incident.
At the 1988 Seoul Olympics, he was making a reverse turn into the water in front of fans all over the world when the back of his head hit the springboard. "I heard a hiss before I went into the water, and I was still thinking, 'What's that sound?'" Loganis said. "Very quickly I realized, 'Oh my God, I hit my head.'" ”
"My first thought was embarrassment. I was embarrassed. I was thinking, 'How do I climb out of this pool?' This is the Olympics, I should be a very good diver, but good athletes don't jump so badly." He laughed.
Just 35 minutes later, Loganis returned to the game to qualify for the final. Less than 24 hours later, he won the gold medal, cementing himself as one of the greatest Olympic athletes in history.
Loganis' diving career reached its peak at that time, but privately he was still struggling.
"Because I was infected with it, I felt very lonely and helpless," Loganis recalls. "My family and friends and I came out, and everyone in the diving world knew I was gay. But few people know I have HIV. I felt like I was living on an island. ”
Loganis said he also experienced some discrimination from his teammates. He later found out that his teammates would hold secret meetings to decide who would sleep in the same room as me when they went out to play.
"I might end up in the same room as the coach or they'll arrange a single room for me," he said. "Usually the team will have a guy who is very secure about his sexual orientation and feels okay, but no one really wants to be in the same room with a guy."
"It's different now," said Loganis, who made his sexuality public at the 1994 Gay Games. "I think we've acknowledged what bullying is and also realised the importance of supporting our teammates. I feel less and less bullying and isolation. People have also become friendlier and more open-minded. You now look at how many athletes have come out. ”
Loganis said that after he contracted HIV, it was motivating for him both physically and mentally.
"I see daily exercise and other physical training as important as taking medication on time every day," he says.
"When I look at my peers, I want to say I'm probably looking healthier than most of them," Loganis said. "It's important to make healthy choices."
"HIV has taught me and made me feel stronger than ever before," he said. "Also, don't give up on yourself. I didn't think I could live past 30 before, you see I'm 56 now. ”
In October 2013, Loganis married her boyfriend, Johnny Chaillot, a year younger.