Olympic Diver Greg Louganis Finally Gets On A Wheaties Box 30 Years Late

A great symbol of athletic achievement is to be on the cover a Wheaties box, a given for Olympic gold medal winners. However, Olympic gold medalist Diver Greg Louganis is getting his just now, thirty years later, eight months after a petition advocating for the honor was launched, which garnered thousands of signatures. Louganis explained that in 1984, General Mills told a reporter that he was never considered because he didn’t share the same “family values” as the company.

“They didn’t come out and say it,” explained Louganis in a September article for the Huffington Post, “But the message was loud and clear. They knew I was rumored to be gay and homosexuality wasn’t going to fly on a wholesome Wheaties box. Ouch.”

On Tuesday though, it seems that the definition of wholesome has changed. General Mills announced that Louganis, along with swimmer Janet Evans and hurdler Edwin Moses, will be appearing (separately) on the Wheaties boxes starting in May for the new Wheaties Legends series.

This is probably due to the petition on Change.org which gathered 43,846 signatures. The petition was created by Julie Sondgerath who was inspired by an HBO documentary about Louganis which talks about how he secretly tested positive for HIV before the Seoul Olympics in 1988, his financial struggles and coming out as a gay man in the 1980s.

Louganis has won a total of four Olympic gold medals and continues to work as a mentor for the Olympic diving team.

“I never thought I’d see this day, really. We’ve come so far, and to be able to celebrate that I think is really something very special,” said Louganis.