Greg Louganis is beginning a brand new chapter in his life.
The U.S. diving legend has auctioned off three of the 5 Olympic medals he gained between 1976-1988, offered his dwelling and is parting with most of his different possessions as a part of a journey of self-discovery that’s taking him, no less than for now, to Panama.
“So, as life moves forward, what are you prepared to leave behind?” Louganis wrote Friday in a Fb submit. “I am 65 years old, and I am asking just that. I am no longer who I used to think I was. Not even close to ‘What’ other people or ‘Who’ other people think I am.”
Louganis shared some particulars of his plan in that submit and expanded on them on two Instagram Dwell posts, one recorded from Los Angeles in his closing evening in america and the opposite recorded the next day from Panama Metropolis, the primary cease in a journey that can finally take him and his canine Gerald to Boquette.
That’s the place they’re going to cool down — “for now,” Louganis mentioned on Instagram.
“I don’t know how permanent, or, you know, I don’t know how long it’s gonna be,” he mentioned. “I’m just embracing the ‘I don’t know,’ and also staying open for discovery. I think that’s what this part of my life is about, being open to discover what’s next and really, really, really do my best at being present in every place I go with every person I meet.”
A couple of 12 months in the past, Louganis mentioned, he was in a nasty place mentally, feeling “really, really alone and isolated.”
“It was really, really severe, real bad depression,” Louganis mentioned. “And now I’m realizing, I have things to offer. So what that is and what that looks like, I haven’t figured it out. And I think that that’s what this is kind of about, is recalibration and figuring out what is next. … and just discover who I am too. I mean, that’s a big question.”
U.S. diver Greg Louganis spreads his arms and bends on the waist whereas in mid-dive throughout a springboard diving competitors.
(Sadayuki Mikami / Related Press)
Louganis says a part of the method has been letting go of lots of the gadgets he didn’t notice have been weighing him down. Final month, he acquired greater than $430,000 at public sale for 3 of his Olympic medals ($201,314 for his 1988 gold medal in 10-meter platform, $199,301 for his 1984 gold medal in 3-meter sprinboard and $30,250 for his 1976 silver medal in 10-meter platform).
“I needed the money,” Louganis wrote on Fb. “While many people may have built businesses and sold them for a profit, I had my medals, which I am grateful for. If I had proper management, I might not have been in that position, but what is done is done; live and learn.”
Louganis has not talked about what, if something, occurred along with his different two gold medals, gained in 1984 for 3-meter springboard and in 1988 for 10-meter platform.
Additionally on his posts, Louganis mentions that he offered his dwelling final week. Public information checklist Louganis because the proprietor of a residence in Topanga. In line with Zillow, a home at that handle offered on Aug. 28 for $750,000.
As for many of his different belongings, Louganis wrote, “I decided to donate, sell what can be sold, give gifts, and give where things might be needed or appreciated. … A thought occurred to me, I had many friends, people I was close to, lost everything in the Woolsey Fire, and then the Palisades Fire just this year.
“I know I am choosing to do this, but their resilience is an inspiration for me to start anew, with an open heart and an open door. Opening up to possibilities.”
On Instagram, Louganis described the expertise as “freeing.”
“The memories will always be in here,” Louganis mentioned, putting his hand over his coronary heart. “And so the other things are just stuff, you know? We don’t realize how much we hang on to, and what I’m also learning now in this process is how oftentimes we don’t realize they weigh us down. You know, like the shipping, the storage, all of that stuff.
“Actually, I was kind of discussing that with Michael Phelps, because he heard that I auctioned my medals. He said, ‘How was that?’ I said, ‘You know what it was? It was a relief, you know, because then it was like it was a weight off my shoulders.’”
