Gay Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis and trans duathlon athlete Chris Mosier are among the 19 athletes being featured in the upcoming Body Issue by ESPN the Magazine.
"I really wanted to be in the Body Issue. It was a different way to push myself out of my comfort zone and to challenge myself," Mosier told Outsports. "But it was also a way to overcome some of my history. I struggled with my body for a long time. Before and through transition, I used sports and fitness as a way to manipulate my body and to feel more connected to my body — which was important because what I would see reflected back at me in the mirror was not the body I thought I would grow up to have. I have that body now — it just took me a little longer to get it. If you had said I would do this even two years ago, I would have laughed."
Mosier got into the issue when he was being interviewed by an ESPN reporter for a feature story. "The first thing I told her was, 'I want to be in the Body Issue,' " Mosier said.
Louganis, who won a combined four Olympic gold medals in diving in 1984 and 1988, recognized the significance of being in the body issue. "When I look around at my contemporaries, I'd say I'm probably in better shape than most of them," Louganis told ESPN. "It's all about making healthy choices. I think HIV has helped motivate me mentally and physically. I look at working out and doing something physically active every day as being as important as taking my meds.
"HIV taught me that I'm a lot stronger than I ever believed I was. I didn't think I would see 30, and here I am at 56."
It's terrific that ESPN reached out to a gay man with HIV and a trans athlete. Louganis and Mosier join a stellar list of athletes in the issue:
Nathan Adrian, Olympics/swimming
Jake Arrieta, MLB
Antonio Brown, NFL
Emma Coburn, Olympics/steeplechase
Courtney Conlogue, surfing
Elena Delle Donne, WNBA
Ryan Dungey, motocross
Adeline Gray, Olympics/wrestling
Conor McGregor, MMA
Von Miller, NFL
Nzingha Prescod, Olympics/fencing
Christen Press, soccer
April Ross, Olympics/beach volleyball
Allysa Seely, paratriathlete
Claressa Shields, Olympics/boxing
Dwyane Wade, NBA
Vince Wilfork, NFL
You can watch a promotional video and catch a glimpse of Mosier and Louganis.
