Johnny Chaillot-Louganis wore husband’s 1984 Olympics opening ceremonies jacket
More than 40 years after competing in his first Olympics, Greg Louganis is still making history.
The Olympic diving legend on Monday (2 January) became the first openly gay man to ride as grand marshal of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California.
Louganis, 56, was one of three grand marshals in this year’s parade and rode in a car with husband Johnny Chaillot-Louganis.
The couple were married in 2013 and Chaillot-Louganis wore his husband’s 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Opening Ceremonies rose red jacket.
‘Weird that I cannot throw beads from the car since I grew up at Mardi Gras parades in New Orleans,’ Chaillot-Louganis wrote on Fqcebook.
The parade’s other two grand marshals were also past Olympic champions: American track and field sprinter Allyson Felix and swimmer Janet Evans.
The trio rode in separate cars but in a cluster down Colorado Avenue. All have been active in promoting Los Angeles’ bid for the 2024 Summer Games.
Louganis won two gold medals in 1988, two in 1984 and a silver medal in 1976 while still in high school.
Although he did not come out publicly as a gay man until 1994, Louganis was rumored to be gay and that seemed to hurt his commercial endorsement opportunities.
But in recent years he seems to be getting more his due especially since the airing of the Emmy-nominated documentary Greg Louganis: Back On Board.
Last year, Louganis and Evans along with fellow Olympic legend Edwin Moses received the long overdue honor of being placed on boxes of Wheaties breakfast cereal.
