Search Continues for Successor to Louganis’ Throne

Now that Greg Louganis has hung up his chamois towel for good, the search is under way for a worthy successor. The want ad could read:

Needed immediately: replacement for living Olympic legend. Must be able to carry weight of U.S. diving on shoulders. Matinee-idol looks preferred, but willing to negotiate. Passport required. Vertigo sufferers need not apply. This is the task facing U.S. Diving, the national governing body of the sport. All it has to do is find the next Louganis, which should be about as easy as presenting Zsa Zsa with a parking ticket.

Louganis was an Olympic hyperbole: the best, the most gifted, the most recognized, the standard bearer of American diving. Any more gold medals and he would have needed a neck brace. As it is, the list of his accomplishments stretches as high as a three-meter springboard, beginning with those four Olympic golds, one silver, a Sullivan Award, five world championships, 47 national championships, dual-meet titles galore and whatever other glories can be had from tucks, pikes and twists.

At U.S. Olympic Festivals alone, Louganis won golds in platform and springboard competition five consecutive times. To dive against Louganis was to witness near perfection and continual frustration. Even rare victories could be eclipsed by the Louganis aura.

“When he was in competition, there was the opportunity, however slight it was, that you might beat him,” said Matt Scoggin, a Capistrano Valley alum who recently won the Louganis-less U.S. Indoor platform event. “You could have a great day and he might not have his best day. And if you beat him, even though the headlines said, ‘Louganis Loses,’ your name would be in there.”

Scoggin is one of the candidates who could benefit most from Louganis’ retirement. Already this year, he has won that U.S. Indoors title, as well as place first in a tri-meet involving the U.S., China and the Soviet Union. Had Louganis been there, who knows? Then again, any meet involving Louganis tended to alter a diver’s expectations.

Call it realistic thinking.

“It’s a tough situation going into the (Olympic) Trials in ‘88,” Scoggin said. “You knew that Louganis never made too many mistakes and you knew that there was a great chance that he was on the team and that the other spot was going to be highly sought after by four or five other guys.

“He definitely was one of a kind,” he said.

Scoggin, a platform specialist, finished fifth in those Trials. With Louganis gone now, Scoggin’s chances improve twofold for 1992. Sort of.

“There is so much more time until the ’92 Olympics that really anything can happen,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of talent that (was) displayed while Louganis was in the sport, but there wasn’t much recognition because he was doing so well. He overshadowed a lot of other divers. Now that he’s out of the sport, I think a lot of divers are trying to take advantage of the situation, trying to get through the door now that he’s out.”

This isn’t a mad rush, mind you. The list of legitimate Louganis replacements can be recited in the time it takes to plummet from a 10-meter platform. There is depth in the sport, to be sure, but is there the next Louganis?

Scoggin is a possibility, as is Kent Ferguson, who has suffered more near-misses than any competing diver today. He finished third in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Trials, which is good enough for alternate status, but nothing more. He finished third in five of the top national and international meets last year. Ahead of him always was the legendary Louganis.

If you’re keeping score at home, Ferguson has been the first alternate on every major U.S. team since 1984: two Olympics, a World Cup, a World Championship and a Pan-Am Games. At last, with Louganis’ departure, there is hope.

“I enjoyed it when he was there because I knew on a given day I could be on that level,” Ferguson said. “But now is fine, too.”

Ferguson purposely downplays Louganis’ importance, not out of disrespect, he said, but because he doesn’t value rivalries. To worry about another diver would be to alter his priorities, “and when I start doing that, the focus goes away from what I’m doing to what other people are doing, and I tend not to do as well. For me, (Louganis’ absence is) kind of like not a factor.”

That’s silly, of course. In his own way, Louganis is as much a factor in retirement as he was as a competitor. No longer can you count on a sure medal, as you could have when he took his place on a platform or springboard. Gone, too, is the calming effect that Louganis brought.

“I think if you’re in the public and you don’t follow diving much, I would imagine the general perception is that our sport is a little weaker right now,” Scoggin said.

Scoggin, though, isn’t a big fan of general perceptions. He predicted a U.S. diving hierarchy where championships and medals “will be divided amongst a lot of talent.”

Too bad, it was much more fun the other way. One legend, no waiting.