Back on Board: Greg Louganis

This HBO-aired documentary about four-time Olympic gold medal award-winning high-diver Greg Louganis—who was once a household name—opens with the star athlete's California home in foreclosure. Even as he won unprecedented honors in the sport throughout the 1980s, Louganis felt hostility from peers not just for his homosexuality (an open secret in the dive community) but also because of his Cold War friendships with competing high-divers from the U.S.S.R. (earning Louganis the pejorative "commie fag"). Lucrative commercial-endorsement deals failed to materialize, which would have been a different story if Louganis were straight, says a former coach here. While breathtaking Olympic feats took place in the public eye, bad management and regrettable personal/business relationships behind the scenes culminated in Louganis disclosing his HIV-positive status to the public on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 1995, following up with a candid 1996 memoir, Breaking the Surface. Although media judgment was harsh (a head wound during a dangerous dive could have exposed bystanders to the champ's tainted blood), the LGBT community embraced Louganis's candor. Here, filmmaker Cheryl Furjanic parallels Louganis's symbolic redemption on the games circuit (he now advises young Olympians) with recent breakthroughs in gay rights. A solid sports profile with added LGBT interest, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (C. Cassady)