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Although O'Brien saw no change in Louganis' physical condition that year, he did have to deal with a tired diver. "He could never get a full night's sleep because he had to take his azt every four hours," says O'Brien. There was also the burden of the shared secret. "We knew then that the risk of his spreading the virus through an open cut was infinitesimal, and besides, how many times does a diver-much less Greg Louganis-get wounded? But we thought it best to keep his condition to ourselves . This was 1988, remember. People had a hard time with Magic Johnson playing in the Olympics, and that was 1992."
Then the improbable happened: Louganis hit his head on the springboard on the ninth of his 11 qualifying dives. "I was in a total panic that I might cause someone else harm," he writes. "I wanted to warn Dr. Puffer but I was paralyzed . Everything was all so mixed up at that point: the hiv, the shock and embarrassment of hitting my head and an awful feeling that it was all over." (Louganis finally told Dr. Puffer less than a year ago, and the physician subsequently tested negative for the virus.)
When he stood on the podium to receive his second medal, Louganis recalls wondering, "How soon before I get sick? . What would the people cheering for me think if they knew I was gay and hiv-positive? Would they still cheer?'' O'Brien, who had kept Greg's secret for so many years, says, "I'm glad that I can finally share the story of his heroism. I never even told my wife. There are very few divers who could've come back from that springboard incident and won two gold medals. If that isn't courage, I don't know what is."
Greg's earlier coach, Dr. Lee, was escorting a group of 10-year-old California divers in China when the news broke last week. "All the kids are concerned for him and very depressed,'' he says. "They all aspire to be Greg Louganis." Last summer Greg told Speedo, the swimsuit manufacturer, about his illness; they renewed his endorsement contract.
It was during his four-month run as Darius that Louganis decided to write his autobiography. He had always found it difficult to talk about being gay, let alone being hiv positive. A year ago he could barely discuss his infection with his closest friends. But the play seemed to change that. As Darius says, when he comes back from the dead to give Jeffrey some advice, "Just think of AIDS as the guest that won't leave. The one we all hate. But you have to remember: hey-it's still our party."
--With reporting by Dan Cray/Los Angeles and William Tynan/New York