Greg Louganis on How to Achieve Peak Performance

AI is transforming the world. And it starts with the right compute. ARM is the AI compute platform trusted by global leaders. Proudly NASDAQ listed, Built for the future. Visit arm.com discover.

Welcome to the HBR IdeaCast from Harvard Business Review. I'm Allison Bieber. In every issue of our magazine, we publish a feature we call Life's Work. It's an interview with someone who's been wildly successful outside the traditional corporate world. For our July August edition, I spoke with Greg Louganis, the Olympic diver who won back to back double gold medals in the 1980s. Years later, he came out to the public as both gay and HIV positive and has since become an advocate for human rights causes. He also mentors top US Divers. Here are some excerpts from our conversation. As an athlete, you were known for your extreme focus.

How did you mentally prepare for competition?

Well, I was taught visualization when I was three. So my first performance on stage, I, you know, we went through our tech rehearsal and then we had a dress rehearsal. And in the dress rehearsal, all of a sudden I have this little tux with a top hat and a cane. And so there's additional choreography to go along with it. And so my teacher, I think out of frustration because I was like three years old and she knew if I had done the routine over and over and over again, then I would be too fatigued to perform that night. So she put me in the studio, played the music, and said, okay, imagine yourself doing the routine, fluid. So she played the music and I would visualize myself doing the routine. It took four times before it was completely fluid, without a hitch or hesitation. And then she turned up the tempo and she said, okay, do it again. And so even with the template turned up, I was able to be fluid in my visualization. And so, and she said, okay, you know, we'll see, you know. And so then I performed that night and didn't miss a step. And you know, at three years old, I mean, your perception doesn't go much beyond yourself. You think, oh, well, everybody knows this. If I know it, everyone knows it, right? So then I took those tools to everything that I did, you know, whether it be dance, acrobatics, gymnastics, diving. It was a tool that I was taught when I was three years old. So I didn't question it. And that's just, you know, how I processed it and how I prepared.

Right.

When you think about your focus as an athlete, the sort of scenes that everyone remembers are the 1988 Olympic Games, when you hit your head on the diving board, came Back, landed a perfect dive, and then went on to win the gold. So how are you able to keep going through to that next dive and then the rest of the games?

Well, it's interesting because a lot of people have a total misconception of that whole incident because they said, well, how did you get over that? You know, how did you get over that? To get over something takes time. You know, it takes time to process, to understand, to analyze, to do all that. I didn't have time. I had, I believe we calculated 22 minutes to prepare for my next dive. So then virtually, you know, with my coach, Ron o', Brien, and I said, do you want to continue? I said, you have an incredible record to look back on. You don't have to back on the diving board. Whatever you decide, I'll be behind you 100%. And my knee jerk reaction was, we worked too long and hard to get here and I don't want to give up without a fight. I said, okay, let's take a walk. And so we started talking. And you know, hockey players, they get 30 stitches and they get back on the ice and you got five stitches in your head, it's no big deal. And we just started laughing, you know, kind of making a joke about it. And of course, when something like that happens, I mean, all of your confidence is just drained right out of you. Absolutely. So he just turned to me and he said, look, Greg, this was a total fluke. And, you know, it was a fluke, so get up there like it never happened. And he said, look, if you don't believe in yourself, believe in me, because I believe in you. And so with that, I knew that I had his support. So that's how I was able to get back up on the board and do my next dive. It's not that I got over was just that I set that aside like it never existed.

And obviously there was so much more going on in your head because of your HIV status at that time. Did that factor into your ability to.

Yeah, initially. I mean, that was my first fear. Well, okay. When I took off the board, I knew I was going to be close. And usually you're worried about hitting your hands or your arm or something on the board and so made sure that my arms were away. And then I heard this big hollow fed and I go crashing in the water. And so my first feeling was embarrassment. I was embarrassed because, I mean, this is in front of the entire world, right? So then I'm trying to think, how do I get out of this pool without Anybody seeing me, you know, just because the embarrassment. And then I got angry with myself, and it was like. And then that thought of, God, what is my responsibility? I'm in a country that if they knew my HIV status, I wouldn't have been allowed into that country. And so I was, like I said in my book, breaking the Surface. I was paralyzed by fear. The thing that I knew was diving, you know, was to get back on the board, and that's what I focused on.

You won your first Olympic medal, a.

Silver, at age 16. So how did you respond to the fame that came with that win at such a young age?

Well, that is really an odd period. I was a sophomore in high school. I went to public school. You know, we couldn't afford private school. I went there. My coach at the time was Dr. Sammy Lee. He won two Olympic gold medals in 48 and 52. And then he coached Bobby Webster, another American, to win two Olympic gold medals. I believe it was 1960 and 64. And then Klaus DiBiase was going for his third Olympic gold medal to break his record. And so my sole purpose on this earth at that time was at age 16 was to prevent Klaus from breaking my coach's record. And so in my mind's eye, I failed because I didn't win. I went there to win. I didn't go there to take second.

Right, but you were being celebrated.

Yeah, that's what was confusing to me. That was. What was so confusing is that, you know, we'll. Why are they celebrating my failure? But that was my own perception. I, you know, kind of kept that to myself. It was really weird because, I mean, all the kids that used to bully me growing up all of a sudden wanted to be my friend. It was just a real confusing time for me. Yeah, it's not what most people perceive. I mean, it took years before I could even hold that Olympic silver medal because I was ashamed of it.

Wow.

Now, you know, in retrospect, I can hold that medalist pride and say, look what I achieved at age 16.

Right. How much of a blow was it when the US didn't go to the 1980 Olympics?

It was a difficult time, you know, because I didn't know if I had it in me, because diving was something at that time that I was good at, but it wasn't something that I was particularly enjoying. You know, between 84 and 88, I realized, oh, my God, I really love this stuff. I really love the sport. But I didn't know if I was gonna be strong enough to kind of Hang in there for 84, right?

What made the difference for you from it's a job to I love it.

My coach, Ron o', Brien, because he knew that I was a performer and I was winning this competition, that competition, you know, and it's like, not a problem, but I wasn't being too challenged. So what he did is he devised some goals for me, like breaking 700 on 3 meter springboard. I was the first one to ever do that in the scoring system that we had. And then to break 700 on 10 meter platform, which I was first one to ever achieve that in the scoring system that we had. So those were performance goals. And in order to achieve those performance goals, you can't be looking to the side of you and saying, oh, I have to beat that person, I have to beat that person. You have to have balls to, you know, leave everybody behind because they're not going to keep up.

You've described yourself as someone who didn't feel naturally political, someone who wanted to go around giving speeches, but you've become something of a spokesperson for LGBT causes. So how did you make that transition?

My mom always taught me right from wrong, try to make everywhere you go better because you were there. And so it's not that you pick up that mantle overnight. It's so funny because I just got an email from my sixth grade teacher, Mrs. Hepler. She's like, what happened to that shy little 12 year old that I used to teach? And it's just like, you know what? That 12 year old, shy little boy is still here. It's just now that I'm more comfortable and able to speak and articulate and share my thoughts and feelings.

You serve as a mentor to us Olympians, but not as a coach. What's the difference between those two things?

You know, we have some incredible coaches, great technicians that know the sport and very articulate and all that, but you don't have that. Like, my coach, Ron o' Brien was also my mentor. You don't have that. He would meet with us first of the year and map out the calendar saying, okay, what are the major competitions? What are our goals, whether they be diving related or not. I mean, we had some athletes that were. One athlete was in med school. She wanted to be a doctor. So it's like, okay, well, yes, you've made finals, qualified for the Olympic trials, and, you know, and all this, that your focus should be your school because that's going to serve you beyond. You know, for me, it was a little different. It was like, look, you only have a short period of time. An elite athlete has a shelf life. And once beyond that shelf life, it's difficult and you have to take advantage of that time. So his counsel to me was, well, college will always be there, but, you know, you have this amount of time to. And the only way that you're going to be remembered is by the records you leave behind, which many of them still stand to this day. So, you know, he coached us as individuals. There's less of that now. So now when I meet with the athletes, yeah, some of it's about diving, some of it's about communication breakdowns with their coach, but most of it is about what goes on outside the pool. What are their career goals, where do they see themselves in two to five years and what are they doing? Action steps. What are they taking the action steps to pursue those goals?

That was the Olympic gold medalist, Greg Luganis. For more life's work interviews, go to hbr. Org.