Greg Louganis on Team USA’s Olympic diving hopes and his career

( NewsNation ) — Legendary U.S. diver Greg Louganis will be in Paris to watch Team USA perform in the event he once ruled over at the Olympic Games.

Louganis, a four-time gold medalist, who worked with the diving team ahead of the 2012 London Games, believes the U.S. may struggle to compete with the likes of China for gold.

“I think the U.S. is in a rather tough spot,” Louganis said. “China is dominating diving, but they’re beatable. That’s just it. That’s what you have to understand, they’re beatable.”

Team USA took home three medals — two silvers and a bronze — across eight diving events at the Tokyo Games held in 2021. The U.S. has not won a gold medal in diving since David Boudia at the 2012 Games .

China had a stranglehold on proceedings, winning seven golds out of a possible eight in Tokyo, while also accruing five silvers.

Louganis told “NewsNation Live” on Friday about how he dealt with pressure and expectation before leaping off the diving board.

“What I would think to myself is, ‘no matter what happens my mother still gonna love me,'” Louganis said.

“It puts everything in perspective … and really helped me to kind of let go,” he added. Louganis said this visualization was used prior to his gold medal-winning dive at the 1988 Seoul Games.

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