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Will Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis finally be be honored with a Wheaties box?
At one point during a recent HBO documentary about his life, Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis says with a shrug: ‘Never got a Wheaties box.’
While it may be 27 years since he last competed in an Olympics, there are plenty of people who don’t think it’s too late for General Mills, which produces the breakfast cereal, to honor Louganis.
As of Wednesday, more than 23,000 people had signed a Change.org petition launched by Julie Sondgerath of Chicago.
‘After watching HBO’s documentary Back on Board: Greg Louganis, I felt inspired to ask General Mills to right a wrong and put him on the Wheaties box,’ Sondgerath writes.
She adds: ‘Greg Louganis deserves (still) to be on the cover of the Wheaties box. And with marriage equality passing in June of 2015, what a great way to pay it forward to Greg and all of his accomplishments.’
Louganis, now 55, had watched while fellow gold medalists from the 1984 and 1988 games were immortalized on boxes of the breakfast cereal that had also famously featured Bruce Jenner after the 1976 Olympics where a 16-year-old Louganis had won silver.
Louganis went on to win four gold medals in future Olympics and is still considered to be the best in the history of his sport.
While he was not out publicly as a gay man during his competitive career, there was enough speculation about his sexuality that he was never offered the endorsement opportunities that Jenner, Mary Lou Retton and other American champions were flooded with.
Back on Board producer Will Sweeney tells The New York Times that Louganis’ sexuality can be the only possible reason for the snub.
‘Greg is always very careful and willing to consider alternate explanations,’ Sweeney says. ‘But rationally, I can’t come up with any other one. Here was a guy who by any metric or evaluation was the dominant figure in his sport. And here he was standing against a wall of Wheaties boxes of people who people don’t know. How was it possible he never had a Wheaties box?”
Wheaties is aware of the petition and says in a statement: ‘Greg Louganis was certainly a world-class diver and truly embodied the championship mentality of a Wheaties athlete. While we do not discuss future marketing decisions, we will look into how we celebrate his accomplishments.’
The post Will Olympic diving legend Greg Louganis finally be be honored with a Wheaties box? appeared first on Gay Star News.
Greg Hernandez
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