Greg Louganis Recalls Thinking He Was 'On My Way Out' on His 33rd Birthday Following 1988 HIV Diagnosis (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Greg Louganis in 1988 (left), and in 2024.Photo:Tony Duffy/Allsport/Getty; JC Olivera/Variety/Getty

Tony Duffy/Allsport/Getty; JC Olivera/Variety/Getty

Greg Louganisis recalling the hopelessness he felt during the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s.

“Every time I’d get a sniffle, every time I’d cough, I’d think, ‘Oh my God, this is it,' " he says, noting that funding into HIV/AIDS research gave him another chance.

“I got the right treatment and I’m still here.”

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“People in USA diving used to have team meetings that I wasn’t invited to because they had to figure out who was going to room with the f–,” he recalls.

Phill Wilson, CEO of theBlack AIDS Institute, also shares his story in the documentary.

“I was all of 27. I got my results back, and they came back positive … They gave me six months and apparently somebody else has another plan.”

Activist Peter Staley recalls his own fears: “I thought I was going to lose everything. I thought I had about two years to live everything and I was going to lose my job and my family and my life.”

He then praises the advances in medicine that have allowed him to continue to fight for impacted communities. “If you can take just one pill a day,” he says, “you can live to old age. And that’s a miracle.”

source: people.com