THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 4 : Louganis Hits Head, Doesn’t miss a Beat : U.S. Diver Gets Stitches, Then Gives Day’s Best Performance

Greg Louganis wasn’t about to let a bump on his head slow him in his chase for another Olympic gold medal.

With 4 stitches in his head and determination on his mind, Louganis tumbled and twisted through Monday’s best dive, barely half an hour after he hit the back of his head on the 3-meter springboard.

“His first dive after the accident was the best dive I’ve seen him do in practice or competition since the Olympic team was formed 4 weeks ago,” said Vince Panzano, co-coach of the U.S. diving team.

Louganis was leading the 11-dive preliminary springboard event after the 8th round. His 9th-round scrape dropped him to 5th place, but he surged to a 3rd-place finish and easily made the qualifying field of 12 from the original 35-man group.

No scores were carried over to Tuesday morning’s finals. Barring another serious slip, Louganis should be the favorite.

Even though his 9th dive earned him only 6.3 points, Louganis finished with 629.67. Tan Liangde of China, runner-up to Louganis at the 1984 Olympics and at the Seoul International meet last June, led the qualifiers with 682.65 points. Albin Killat of West Germany, 7th at the Summer Games in Los Angeles, was 2nd at 642.60.

The other qualifiers were Li Deliang of China, Jorge Mondragon of Mexico, Edwin Jongejans of the Netherlands, Mark Bradshaw of the United States, Jesus Mena of Mexico, Niki Stajkovic of Austria, Keita Kaneto of Japan and Valery Gontcharov and 1980 gold medalist Alexander Portnov of the Soviet Union.

Louganis was fortunate simply to be able to finish.

“Normally when someone hits the board like that, there is a scalping effect on the head that requires extensive suturing,” Panzano said.

But Louganis had just 4 temporary sutures put in before his 10th dive, and they were replaced with 5 sutures after the competition.

Louganis’ 10th dive had a 3.3 degree of difficulty. He made it look easy.

On the reverse 1 1/2-somersault with 3 1/2 twists, he received 87.12 points. None of the other 384 dives taken by the divers earned more.

“That’s typically Louganis,” Panzano said. “He’s an incredible athlete and an incredible competitor.”

Panzano said he was certain Monday’s experience--which he couldn’t recall ever happening before to Louganis in practice or competition--wouldn’t haunt him.

“He’ll do the same dive” in the finals, Panzano said. “I really think it won’t have any mental effect on him.”

Micki King Hogue, the team’s manager, said the close call would spur Louganis. She should know.

In 1968, she was leading the women’s springboard competition at the Mexico City Olympics heading into her final dive. But she hit the board, broke her arm and dropped into fourth place. Four years later in Munich, she won the gold medal.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s more embarrassed than hurt,” she said. “He can’t wait to do the dive” again.

Louganis won the silver medal in the platform event at the 1976 Olympics. He won gold medals in springboard and platform diving in 1984 and is seeking to become the first man to win both events in consecutive Olympics.

Bradshaw nearly lost his shot at a medal Monday when he struggled to qualify for the finals. He was in 19th place when Louganis struck his head, then moved into 15th on his 9th dive, into 9th on his 10th and into 7th on his last attempt.

Louganis’ injury “shocked Bradshaw out of his doldrums,” Panzano said. “The incident may have helped Mark take his mind off his own problems.

“Mark has a lot of things going on right now. He’s made the Olympic team. His wife’s due to have a baby. His diving career is coming to an end. He’s got a new job. And he’s getting ready to move.

“All those things are very high on a person’s stress list.”