Greg Louganis Finally Gets His Wheaties Box

Four-time Olympic diving gold medalist and five-time world champion Greg Louganis can now be found in the cereal aisle at your local grocery store. After a 30 year career, Louganis will be featured on one of three Wheaties box honoring Olympic legends. Swimmer Janet Evans and hurdler Edwin Moses, respectively, can be seen on the other boxes. In previous interviews, Louganis has said he understood he wasn’t featured on Wheaties boxes during the 1980’s because he didn’t fit the brand’s wholesome image. Louganis came out as gay and HIV-positive in 1995. “[It’s] so incredible to be honored with the likes of Edwin Moses — we were in our first Olympic games in 1976 together,” Louganis told NPR’s All Things Considered. “Janet Evans — we trained at Mission Viejo together — I watched her grow up.” Louganis is the only man to sweep Olympic diving events in consecutive games, winning gold medals  in both platform and springboard diving at the 84′ and ’88 Olympics.  Louganis’ career is an inspiration to contemporary divers like Tom Daly, who is also openly gay. Daly told NPR,””I would have always wanted someone like him as a role model on the front of a cereal box,” Daley told NPR’s Ari Shapiro. “He’s a great model and forever will be the greatest diver to walk this earth.”

A recent Change.org petition, which garnered over 45,000 signatures to get Louganis his own Wheaties box, didn’t play a part in this recent series however. “We were aware of the petition, as we see this all the time from fans wanting their favorite athlete on the box,” Mike Siemienas of General Mills said. “But appearing on a Wheaties box is not a popularity contest. Wheaties chooses athletes based on their achievements on and off their field of play.” Although decades after his appearance at the Olympics, Louganis is thrilled that his Wheaties moment is happening now. “Back in ’95, I wasn’t expected to live very long because we thought of HIV-AIDS as a death sentence, so to be here today, now 56, the box means so much more to me than it would have then because I feel like I’m being embraced as a whole person, not just for my athletic achievements.”