and-a-half somersault pike and hit his head on the
board. He completed the dive, but he required four
stitches to stop the bleeding. Despite the injury, he
made his last dive successfully and won the event.
However, since he was gay and HIV-positive, he was
concerned about possibly infecting other swimmers;
later, that possibility was dismissed as being extremely
remote.
Impact Because no other American swimmer, other
than perhaps Mark Spitz, could rival his Olympic
achievements and because he was so physically at-
tractive, Louganis was a media hero, with his face on
the cover ofLifemagazine (October, 1988) andTime
magazine (July 28, 1986) and his nude body inPlay-
girl(1987). He also gained several endorsement con-
tracts, making him a wealthy young man.
Subsequent Events Louganis revealed his homo-
sexuality to the general public in 1994 and published
his autobiography,Breaking the Surface, in 1995. He
lost his corporate sponsorships, except those of the
Children’s Television Network and Speedo. At the
time that he revealed his homosexuality and infec-
tion with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), he
was the most famous athlete to do so. Undoubtedly,
his disclosure made it easier for other gay athletes to
reveal their sexuality. Louganis’s popularity resulted
in his autobiography being adapted for television in
1996.
Further Reading
Anderson, Eric.In the Game: Gay Athletes and the Cult
of Masculinity. Albany: State University of New
York Press, 2005.
Louganis, Greg, with Eric Marcus.Breaking the Sur-
face.New York: Random House, 1995.
Milton, Joyce.Diving for Gold. New York: Random
House, 1989.
Woog, Dan.Jocks: True Stories of America’s Gay Athletes.
Los Angeles: Alyson Books, 1998.
Thomas L. Erskine
See also AIDS epidemic; Homosexuality and gay
rights; Olympic Games of 1984; Olympic Games of
1988; Sports.
Louisiana World Exposition
The Event Cultural and trade exhibition
Date May 12 to November 11, 1984
Place New Orleans, Louisiana
The 1984 Louisiana World Exposition lost money when at-
tendance failed to meet expectations. However, the infra-
structure improvements and urban rejuvenation under-
taken to prepare for the fair later paid off in increased
tourism for the city.
Like world fairs of preceding decades, the Louisiana
World Exposition was intended to facilitate cultural
exchange among the participating nations. It was
also designed to help the city of New Orleans reno-
vate its aging infrastructure and increase its inven-
tory of hotels, restaurants, and other businesses re-
quired to promote tourism. Tourists were replacing
oil and gas production as the city’s largest source of
revenue. Exposition organizers formed a private as-
sociation to sponsor and promote the event several
years before it opened, choosing as their theme “A
World of Rivers: Water as a Source of Life.” They
scheduled the fair to coincide with the one hun-
dredth anniversary of Louisiana’s first world exposi-
tion, the 1884 World Industrial and Cotton Centen-
nial Exposition.
A rundown warehouse section of the city adjacent
to Canal Street, the main commercial thoroughfare,
was renovated, and a new convention center and
shopping pavilion were built along the Mississippi
River. Ten new hotels were constructed to accommo-
date visitors. Promoters became excited about the
fair’s prospects when the 1982 World’s Fair in Knox-
ville, Tennessee, exceeded attendance projections
and made a profit. Unfortunately, planners in New
Orleans did a very poor job of publicizing their ex-
position, and the press, including local newspapers
and television stations, was frequently critical. To
make matters worse, promoters were successful in
obtaining only $10 million in federal grants, far less
than Knoxville had received. Nevertheless, the expo-
sition opened on May 12 to much local fanfare.
The expected crowds never materialized, largely
because of competition from other events. Both po-
litical parties held national conventions that year in
other cities, and the 1984 Olympic Games were held
in Los Angeles. Many people expended their vaca-
tion time and money for the year on those events.
As a result, fewer out-of-state tourists attended the602 Louisiana World Exposition The Eighties in America