I (Clare) watched the most fascinating documentary Back On Board: Greg Louganis about the diving champion Greg Louganis. His story is tragic – he won 4 Olympic gold medals (1984 and 1988 Olympics) but once it was revealed that he was HIV+ sponsorships vanished. In 2011, four-time Olympic champion Greg Louganis is far from the public eye and struggling to pay his mortgage. Now, the openly gay, HIV+ world-class athlete returns to diving to mentor the USA Olympic hopefuls. Here is a little clip from the documentary:

http://www.hbocanada.com/details/?id=98898

The documentary is extremely well done – not sentimental, Louganis tells his story, and the viewer can draw his/her own conclusions. We have come a long way in accepting gay athletes but there is still so much work to be done. This documentary would be so useful to show to students both in terms of structure and in content. It is being rebroadcast on HBO a number of times this month and I think it is on Netflix. It is well worth watching (be sure to have a hanky or two available because Louganis is almost destitute, he loses his house, is selling his Olympic gold medals …. And he seems like the nicest fellow. Yes he was naïve but then he was very young).