Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 23, 1995 TAG: 9502230088
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Louganis, in an interview with ABC News ``20/20'' to be televised Friday, also said his head wound was stitched by a doctor who did not know of his condition and was not wearing gloves.
In transcripts of the interview released Wednesday, Louganis said that ``according to the CDC [national Centers for Disease Control] standards of AIDS vs. HIV, I do have AIDS,'' and that he tested positive for the AIDS virus just before the 1988 Games in Seoul.
In the preliminaries of the springboard event there, Louganis cracked his head on a reverse dive and became ``paralyzed with fear'' when he started bleeding in the pool.
``I was so stunned,'' Louganis said. ``I mean, what was going on in my mind at the time was, 'What's my responsibility? Do I say something?' It's, you know, this has been an incredibly guarded secret.
He did not reveal his condition to the U.S. Olympic Committee doctor who stitched the wound, and felt sure the chlorinated water in the pool would dilute the virus.
``I just held my head. ... I just wanted to hold the blood in, or just not anybody touch it,'' Louganis said.
``I didn't anticipate hitting my head on the board,'' he told interviewer Barbara Walters. ``I didn't anticipate, you know, the blood. That's something ... I didn't think about at the time.''
After getting stitches, Louganis returned for the last few preliminary dives and qualified for the next day's finals. He easily won the springboard gold. When it was over, he wrapped his arms around coach Ron O'Brien and sobbed.
He said he told his coach, ``Nobody will ever know what we've been through.''
Louganis said he received word that a former companion was dying of AIDS six months before the Seoul Games. Louganis had himself tested and was told he was HIV positive, according to ABC News. He was placed on the drug AZT, taking it every four hours around the clock, and he still was taking it during the Olympics.
``Dealing with HIV was really difficult for me because I felt like, God, the U.S. Olympic Committee needs to know this ... U.S. Diving needs to know it, because what if I get sick at the Olympic Games and am unable to compete?'' he said.
However, Louganis said he never told the USOC because ``I was encouraged not to.''
``By whom?'' Walters asked.
``By this small team of people ... doctor, coach.''
Asked if he wasn't afraid that Louganis would hurt himself or infect someone else, O'Brien said:
``No, not really. Because there's very, very little chance. If it were in a sport like boxing or wrestling, football, where there's a lot of contact, personal contact, I would have been very concerned. But our sport is such that you don't ever come close to anybody.''
Chlorine in the pool, the fact that the virus would have been diluted in thousands of gallons of water, and the need for an open cut or wound to allow the virus to enter another diver's body would have made the chance for transmission ``infinitesimal,'' Dr. Mark Katz, regional HIV-AIDS physician coordinator for Kaiser Permanente of Southern California, said Wednesday.
by CNB