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March 19, 2013
Greg Louganis talks to GSN about being dive master on ABC's Splash

Gay Olympic champ helping celebrities work through challenges and fears

Five-time Olympic medalist Greg Louganis debuts tonight as the 'dive master' on ABC's new celebrity reality competition Splash.

The man considered to be the greatest US diver in history, is sharing his expertise with a group of celebrities that include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kendra Wilkinson, Louie Anderson and Keisha Knight Pulliam, among others.

‘I was hired as the judge but they moved my role into dive master,' he tells Gay Star News. 'I’m working with all of the celebrities who are on the show, getting them prepared for the competition.’

November 16, 2012
Gay diver Matthew Mitcham battled addiction to crystal meth after 2008 Olympics

'Taking it was something I did to take my mind off things that were upsetting me - to make me feel better about myself'

Gay Australian Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham reveals in his new autobiography Twists and Turns that he battled an addiction to crystal meth after winning the gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

In the book, to be released on Monday (20 November), Mitcham writes about how he went from the heights of Olympic glory to suffering from anxiety, depression and panic attacks.

October 11, 2012
Olympic diver arrives in Nepal for LGBTI sports festival

Greg Louganis is guest of honor at first high-profile gay sports competition in south Asia

American Olympic gold-medal diver Greg Louganis has arrived in Nepal for a three-day international LGBTI sports festival.

Louganis, who won golds for diving in 1984 and 1988, is guest of honor at the sports festival which starts tomorrow with over 300 LGBTI sports people from all over the world competing in athletics, karate, football and volleyball.

In a statement issued yesterday the US Embassy in Kathmandu, who is supporting the festival along with the Norwegian Embassy and the Australian government, said:

September 20, 2012
Size matters! Meet the biggest LGBT aquatics club in the world

The powerhouse that is Team New York Aquatics are reigning world champions in swimming, diving and water polo

It was in a Starbucks in midtown Manhattan that I met two of the key leaders of Team New York Aquatics (TYNA) - officially the world’s largest LGBT aquatics club.

Elisabeth Turnbull-Brown (TNYA co-chair) and Scott Jordan (TNYA head coach) make a dynamic duo. Both young, articulate and engaging - Jordan, the quintessential gay American; Turnbull-Brown a straight-talking (and straight) Australian.

September 1, 2012
Greg Louganis documentary up for project of the month

Documentary of gay Olympic champion Greg Louganis entered in Indiewire's project of the month contest

The producers of a documentary on gay Olympic champion Greg Louganis enrolled their project in a contest that could lead to working with a renowned film festival.

August 19, 2012
Louganis documentary filmmakers looking for donations

Documentary filmmakers looking for financing to complete project about  Olympic champion Greg Louganis

The producers of a documentary on Greg Louganis are looking for funds for their project. 

Filmmakers Cheryl Furjanic and Will Sweeney have turned to Kickstarter to get the last $3,000 of a $50,000 goal.  Their deadline is 22 August.

August 12, 2012
Gay Olympian Matthew Mitcham will not retire from diving

The Olympic champion is planning to be a springboard diver and wants his 'thighs as big as [China's] He Chong's' for Rio 2016

After narrowly missing out on a place in the diving final yesterday (11 August), it looked like it would be the last time we would see gay Australian athlete Matthew Mitcham at the Olympics.

Not a chance, as the 24-year-old is now considering reinventing himself as a springboard diver, primarily to reduce the impact on his battered body.

August 11, 2012
Gay diver Matthew Mitcham fails to get into Olympic final

Twitter shares their sympathy for the much adored defending Olympic champion after he comes just outside of the 12 final places

Gay diver Matthew Mitcham came just shy of going through into the Olympic final on the 10m diving platform today (11 August).

The Australian, who won gold in Beijing four years ago, could be seen in tears after realizing he had faltered his final dive in the semi-finals.

With only 12 places up for grabs, Mitcham came 13th with 482.40 points.

Instead Chinese world champion Qiu Bo came top once again, with British favorite Tom Daley coming fourth with 521.1 points.

August 10, 2012
Gay diver Matthew Mitcham competes with Tom Daley in Olympic heat

After the Australian Olympic champion promises to dive naked if he wins, Mitcham, Daley and world number one Qiu Bo qualify in the first heat

Gay diver Matthew Mitcham has qualified to go to the semi-finals after preliminary heats on the 10m diving platform at the London Olympics.

With 32 divers and six rounds, divers across the world came to the British capital to compete for 18 spots in one of the final competitions of the games.

The previous Olympic champion at Beijing four years ago, the Australian scored an impressive 456.2 points and finished in ninth place.

British favorite Tom Daley had a shaky fifth dive, and finished with 448.45 points in 15th place.

August 9, 2012
Matthew Mitcham vows to dive naked if he wins Olympic gold again

Openly gay athlete excites fans with Twitter promise

No doubt 2008 Olympic gold medalist Matthew Mitcham already had plenty of fans rooting for him to duplicate his efforts from the Beijing Games.

Now they have even more incentive.

The openly gay athlete recently tweeted to his 27,000-plus followers: 'If I win gold at #London2012, I will dive off 10m naked to celebrate.'

August 7, 2012
Gay Olympic diver sings on YouTube again

Australian Olympian Matthew Mitcham has charmed the pants off us again, by singing the Family Guy's theme tune on the ukulele

Australian Olympian Matthew Mitcham has taken to YouTube with his ukulele again, keeping his 27,000 Twitter followers happy while he kills time before his big dive on Friday (10 August).

Just when we thought we couldn’t love him any more after his rendition of Beyoncé’s Single Ladies last week, he charms us again with a poignant interpretation of the theme from his favorite TV show - Family Guy.

August 5, 2012
Gay Olympic diving star Matthew Mitcham goes for gold

Tom Daley and Qiu Bo watch out, Australian Mitcham is a big gay gold hope in the individual 10m dive at the London Olympics

Four years ago, gay Australian Matthew Mitcham shocked the world when he won gold on the 10m diving platform in the Beijing Olympics.

Receiving the highest score for a single dive in Olympic history at the time, Mitcham not only dispelled myths about gay men in sport but set the bar higher for every other athlete.

The Chinese were heavily favored in the 2008 event, and Mitcham was behind Zhou Luxin by about 35 points going into the final dive.

But then Mitcham hit a score of 112.10 on his sixth and final dive to win by just over three points.

August 3, 2012
Olympic gay diver Matthew Mitcham plays Beyoncé on a ukulele

Australian Olympic diver Mitcham is making his own entertainment before his big dive next week

Out and proud Australian diver Matthew Mitcham has been relaxing during the Olympics by playing some creative interpretations of Beyoncé songs on his ukulele.

Mitcham released a clip on his official YouTube channel of him playing a folk version of Beyoncé’s Single Ladies, in response to a request on Twitter.

The clip was posted on Wednesday (1 August) and already has nearly 20,000 views and nearly 700 likes.

July 27, 2012
Documentary on gay Olympic legend Greg Louganis in the works

Back on Board chronicles his winning gold at Seoul Olympics while secretly HIV positive

As a high school student, Greg Louganis won a silver medal in diving at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. Then eight years later in Los Angeles, he won two gold medals.

But it is his performance in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul that made him an Olympic diving legend. He hit his head on the diving board during the springboard preliminaries, required stitches, but still managed to come back and win gold medals in that event and in the platform diving.

June 11, 2012
Olympic legend Greg Louganis talks to Gay Star News about mentoring young divers

Four-time Gold Medalist tells Olympic hopefuls: 'Everybody there wants to see you succeed'

American divers have failed to win any Olympic medals in the last two Summer Games and won just one in 2000.

So who better to motivate them than the man who has won more diving medals in US history: Greg Louganis.

Louganis, winner of two golds as the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, two gold at the 1988 Games in Seoul, and a silver at the 1976 Games in Montreal when he was still in high school, was brought in by US Diving in 2010 as an athlete mentor to the Olympic hopefuls.

April 19, 2012
Diver Matthew Mitcham wants sexuality to be as 'uninteresting as hair colour'

But until then he doesn't mind the attention, 'in the hope that it might make other people feel more comfortable'

Australian Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham has spoken openly about his sexuality in an interview ahead of competing in the London Olympics.

Mitcham, who came out publicly before winning gold in the 10-metre platform diving event the Beijing Olympics, said in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald:

February 29, 2012
Olympic countdown: Gay heroes in Speedos

Will we see openly gay and lesbian athletes competing at the 2012 London Olympics?

Although the Olympic charter commits the International Olympic Committee: 'To act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement’; and 'To encourage and support the development of sport for all’, it is widely documented that gay men and lesbians are grossly under-represented at this elite level (it is believed that at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, only 0.1% of athletes were openly gay or lesbian).

January 25, 2012
Matthew Mitcham: Gay Olympic golden boy

Why gay diver Matthew Mitcham is one of Australia’s best gold medal hopes in the Olympics and an icon for gay sportspeople

If you are to believe Wikipedia of the 11,028 athletes that competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics there were only eleven athletes that were openly gay. That’s about 0.1%.

While there is no guarantee that representation of gays and lesbians at Olympic level will have increased by the time the 2012 Olympics in London roll around, one athlete that we can look forward to seeing in action is openly gay diver Matthew Mitcham from Australia.