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Greg Louganis
Olympic Diver & Author
Greg Louganis
Olympic Diver & Author
Biography
Greg Louganis is simply the greatest diver in history. You would be hard pressed to find a person who watched either the 1984 or 1988 Olympics who was not enthralled by the poetry that was Greg Louganis: the beauty and power of his diving captured the world.
2016 marked the 40th Anniversary of Greg's first Olympic win - a silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, in platform diving, at the tender age of 16. Eight years later he became the first male diver to get double gold in springboard and platform in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and again in the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He has earned a total of 5 Olympic medals, 5 World Championship titles and 47 national titles — more than any person in U.S. history. His records remain unbroken.
In 1988 Greg Louganis also tested positive for HIV. Coming out as a gay athlete in a time when it simply was not done, his 1995 autobiography, Breaking the Surface, spent five weeks at Number One on the New York Times bestseller list and his PGA and Emmy nominated Documentary Back on Board is receiving rave reviews nationwide and can now be seen on HBO.
In 2016 General Mills announced that Greg would receive a Wheaties Box for his achievements, and that development was so significant it warranted a New York Times exclusive. He had the honor of being included in ESPN's 2016 annual Body Issue, and in 2017 was the first openly gay Grand Marshal of The Rose Parade. In 2019, he again serves as Sports Director for Red Bull Cliff Diving, a division of Red Bull, one of the world's best known brands, and Greg is working with Red Bull toward eventual inclusion of high diving in the Olympics.
The story of Greg’s life, is a story that has inspired millions, and he regularly is a keynote speaker to the most significant organizations and companies in the world to share that story. Recent speeches range from companies such as Coca Cola, Exelon, Nomura and HSBC Banks, Visa, Gift of Adoption, and many more.
In May of 2019, he will participate as a co-host and be recognized for his achievements at the Paley Center's LGBTQ+ Achievement in Television Honors, for the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall, held in New York City.
Today, as a speaker, author, actor, activist, humanitarian and designer, he continues his tradition of excellence in every field he touches.
Speaker Videos
TEDTalk: Finding My Voice in the Silence of Meditation
Out and Equal Workspace
GLAAD
PhRMA
Make Everywhere you go Better Because you are There
It's a Birthright to Love and be Loved
Speech Topics
Breaking the Surface: Overcoming Adversity
In this presentation, Greg Louganis opens up about every obstacle he had to overcome thus far in his life: from becoming a fine tuned Olympic athlete to announcing his HIV positive status and being openly gay to recovering from and managing mental health and substance abuse issues. Louganis’s honesty and down to earth nature will inspire practitioners, consumers of services and struggling individuals and families to embrace hope and find a passion for never giving in.
Creating Balance
Having struggled through his recovery from drug and alcohol use, fighting depression and the difficult transition out of highly competitive sports, Olympic Hero Greg Louganis helps audiences understand what it takes to create real life balance and make healthier choices.
LGBT Issues, Stigma and The Olympics
In this keynote Greg Louganis discusses with audiences the latest movements in the LGBT community to combat stigma. The speech includes his perspective on Marriage Equality, the new Anti Propaganda Laws in Russia as they affect the Olympics and other critical themes.
Achieving Peak Performance
Meditation in motion is one of Greg Louganis’s driving principals. But how to get there is a complicated journey, and no one should do it alone. In this keynote, Louganis emphasizes the values of teamwork, whether one is competing in an individual sport, within the workforce or in corporate settings.
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