Olympic diver Greg Louganis this week announced that he is engaged to his partner. The olympian called Johnny Chaillot his “soul mate,” saying to People magazine that “the more I fall in love with Johnny, the more I fall in love with myself.”
Louganis and Chaillot, a paralegal, have stated that they will marry sometime this fall.
Louganis gained fame as an Olympian in the 80s, when he won gold medals for the 3m Springboard and 10m Platform diving competitions in back-to-back Olympics in 1984 and 1988. He also gained infamy for hitting his head on a diving board during a preliminary round for the 1988 Olympics, causing a concussion. His “comeback” story became one of the most hailed stories of the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Following his success, Louganis authored a 1996 best-selling biography titled Breaking the Surface. In it, the olympian discussed his struggles as a gay man living with HIV.
Louganis now a mentor for the U.S. Olympic diving team, an advocate for HIV/AIDS awareness, and a motivational speaker. He recently appeared on network TV as a coach on the ABC reality diving competition Splash.
(Image courtesy Alan Light/Wikimedia Commons)
(via People)