Springboard, Men

Phil Boggs (USA) had won the 1973 and 1975 World Championship and was favored as the US Olympic Trials approached. But Boggs was defeated at the US Trials by a young 16-year-old named Greg Louganis. But the Olympics were different as Boggs was by far the most consistent diver. He led the qualifying and took the lead in the final on the first dive and was never headed as he won the gold medal. He had the highest score in the final on 8 of the 11 dives, and for his 22 dives (qualifying and final), he had only two judges’ marks of 6.5, with all marks ranging from 7.0 to 9.5.

Louganis did not win a medal, but on his fourth qualifying dive, became the Nadia Comaneči of diving when he was awarded a 10.0 from judge #3, the first perfect score ever given in Olympic diving. In the final he was in third place after nine dives before stumbling on his 3½ sommie to drop back to sixth. He would come back to win this event, and the platform, in 1984 and 1988.

The silver went to Italy’s Franco Cagnotto, repeating his finish from München. Cagnotto’s teammate, platform superstar Klaus Dibiasi was considered a challenger, having placed second to Boggs at the 1973 and 1975 Worlds, but he was hampered by a sore Achilles’ tendon and placed last in the finals.