Gay diving legend Greg Louganis final gets own breakfast cereal box

Decades after coming out as gay and HIV positive, Greg Louganis, America’s greatest diving champion, has finally been honoured on the box of Wheaties breakfast cereal.

Since 1934, Wheaties, sold as “the breakfast of champions”, has depicted sports stars on its packaging.

Louganis, who was in his sporting prime in the 1980s, was never featured.

The Olympic icon said in 2015 that he believed he was slighted by General Mills, the company that made the cereal, because he wasn’t “wholesome” enough for the brand due to rumours about his sexuality at the time.

Now, following an online campaign and petition, supported by GLAAD and The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, Wheaties has finally placed Louganis’ image on its box as part of its “legends series”.

Two other previously overlooked athletes, hurdler Edwin Moses and the swimmer Janet Evans, will also have their own box.

“This means so much more than it would have back then,” Louganis told The New York Times.

“Getting it now means people will see me as a whole person — a flawed person who is gay, H.I.V.-positive, with all the other things I’ve been through.”

GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis welcomed the news. “By including a gay, HIV-positive Olympic hero on its iconic breakfast box, Wheaties is sending a powerful statement that living your authentic life is what champions are made of,” she said.

Louganis won four Olympic gold medals and one silver, plus five World Champion gold medals.

He famously hit his head on the springboard during a dive at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and was later criticised for not disclosing at the time that he was HIV positive.

Despite there being no risk that the small amount of blood in the water could have infected other divers he was dropped by most of his sponsors.

Louganis came out at gay in 1995 and married his husband Johnny Chaillot in 2013.