Get Involved, Internet: Give Olympic diver Greg Louganis the Mario Lopez-less movie he deserves
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Although cracking one's head on a diving board is generally not recommended to today's Olympians, one could make the argument that it was both the best and the worst thing that could have happened to Greg Louganis. Best in that, although he made an incredible recovery from his accident at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and went on to win a gold medal, it's the concussion that everyone remembers and what made him a star. Worst because, not only did it smart like hell at the time, it fed into the rampant homophobia that Louganis faced after coming out in 1995 and revealing that he was HIV positive, when all his sponsors dropped him and everyone in the world stupidly wondered whether that meant he'd infected every one of his competitors in the pool.
Another reason that injury was unfortunate: It formed the ridiculous centerpiece of the 1997 Showtime movie Breaking The Surface: The Greg Louganis Story, where Mario Lopez lives out Louganis' life via flashbacks as he tumbles into the water. And though Louganis willingly participated in that film as its narrator, he could still use a more dignified movie version of his life—especially now that he's back in the 2012 Olympics, mentoring the U.S. diving team and reminding everyone of his importance. Producer Will Sweeney, whom you may recall from our Pop Pilgrims visit to The Royal Tenenbaums house, is hoping to do just that with the indie documentary Back On Board, aiming to complete the film by 2013, or the 25th anniversary of Louganis' fateful year.
Contributors to the movie's Kickstarter fund can, of course, win all sorts of things, ranging from getting their name in the credits to memorabilia from Louganis' archives to dinner with Louganis himself (a popular incentive recently). Imagine how many variations on "did it hurt?" you could ask!