Christine Cotter for The New York Times  The diving champion Greg Louganis, who retired in 1988 after winning five Olympic medals, has returned as a coach to the sport he once dominated.  FULLERTON, Calif. — The Olympic-size outdoor pool at Fullerton College on a recent afternoon was an aquatics diorama, with a beginners swim class sharing space with a group of seasoned competitors churning out laps. At the far end, in the deep water, three divers practiced their springboard takeoffs.  It might have been an ordinary winter scene in Southern California except for one detail. The coach leaning forward in his chair and speaking so softly that his voice was barely audible over the medley of old pop hits blaring from the loudspeakers was Greg Louganis, considered diving’s Michael Jordan — or Michelangelo.  Louganis, a five-time Olympic medalist, was hired last November by SoCal Divers to coach athletes with wide-ranging ages and abilities. To watch him dissecting a beginner’s front dive tuck during a practice last month was like observing Meryl Streep teaching an introductory acting class.  Louganis became the first man to win consecutive Olympic gold medals (1984 and 1988) in the platform and springboard events, a feat never equaled. He achieved his springboard victory at the Seoul Games in 1988 despite striking the board with his head on his ninth qualifying dive.  In 1982, Louganis became the first diver to be awarded a perfect 10 from all seven judges while performing a reverse two-and-a-half pike at the world championships.  After retiring in 1988, he became a phantom presence in USA Diving, ubiquitous in the record books but otherwise invisible. In the past 23 years, Louganis acknowledged his homosexuality and revealed that he had AIDS, accepted acting jobs and trained dogs for agility competitions.  It never occurred to him to train people until he showed up to watch a competition last year in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and his spot-on assessments of the divers led someone to ask, “Why haven’t you been coaching?”  The seed, once planted, sprouted when Chris Mitchell, who started SoCal Divers, approached Louganis with a coaching offer. Louganis accepted after gaining assurances from Mitchell that he would be free to follow his building-blocks philosophy, which is at odds with some American coaches who stress acrobatics over mechanics.  Louganis insists his divers show proficiency in one fundamental before moving on to the next.  “I’m not surprised,” his former coach Ron O’Brien said in a telephone interview, “because he’s a perfectionist, and that was the way he was taught in dance and acrobatics.”  As a competitor, Louganis’s mechanics were so sound that China’s national coaches in the 1980s pored over film of his dives and tailored their programs to match his technical precision. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Chinese have dominated diving much as Louganis did. They have excelled at the expense of the United States, which did not win a diving medal at the past two Summer Olympics.  Louganis emphasizes practice over competition and the whole person over the athlete. He encourages his divers to keep daily journals in which they write their intentions for each practice, then critique their performances.  “A lot of the parents say they’re on board with it,” Louganis said. “We’ll see how well they can hang in there.”  Louganis never expected to still be around. In 1993, he gave himself a spectacular party for his 33rd birthday because he did not think he would live to see another year. With little fanfare, Louganis turned 51 last month. Except for a scare two years ago, when his T-cell count dropped dangerously low, he said his health had been so good “you kind of forget about it.”  He practices yoga, part of a fitness program that is coupled with an aggressive drug regimen. He has sought medical help for depression and is in a stable relationship with Daniel McSwiney. Louganis said the abusive relationships and the substance abuse that pockmarked his youth were behind him.  Over lunch at a Thai restaurant near Fullerton, a two-year college, Louganis appeared the picture of health. His face was tanned and unlined, and his salt-and-pepper hair, mustache and goatee were neatly groomed.  He ordered panang curry, and the waitress asked how spicy he wanted it on a scale of 1 to 10. “Ten,” he replied. Taken aback, she said, “You tried 10 here before?” When his meal came, Louganis finished it without breaking a sweat.  His move into coaching has been smooth, but not entirely stress free. In response to a mass e-mail Louganis sent about a winter camp, another coach replied using an off-color remark about his sexual orientation. Louganis has been accused of stealing divers from other teams.  “There’s certain coaches who feel insecure about their own abilities,” said Louganis, whose only previous coaching experience was working with his high school team, at Valhalla in San Diego, after returning from the 1976 Summer Olympics.  What he lacks in experience, Louganis says, he makes up for in empathy.
Greg Louganis, one of the most accomplished Olympic divers, is returning to the sport in a way he never expected â as a coach.