This story is updated from an earlier version.
Eric Blevins, an accomplished college diver and now college diving coach who is openly gay, won two gold medals in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard at the the 18th FINA World Masters Championships Gwangju, South Korea.
Blevins, 37, won the 35-39 age group in both events last week at the site of the recent world swimming and diving championships. These were his first two world titles.
“Can’t believe this happened!!! All the hard work paid off, 3 meter world champion!” Blevins wrote on Facebook after his first win.
Blevins was cheered on the whole way by his husband of two years, Nathan Stypinski. “I couldn’t do this without him,” Blevins told Outsports in an email.
“He balances all my weaknesses out, but he definitely keeps me calm during the competitions,” Belvins said. “He actually doesn’t know a lot about the sport, but he’s always there, videotaping each dive so he can show me while I’m in line. It’s definitely nice having that support.”
These were the biggest titles ever for Blevins, who was a diver for Grinnell College in Iowa and now coaches at The College of New Jersey.
“This year has been tougher with injuries,” Blevins said, “but I had a really good support system back home. My saving grace is I still throw really hard dives. … In the last two world championships I placed second on both boards.”
Being an openly gay diver has been no problem in international competitions, Blevins said.
“The international diving community is very open and accepting from what I have experienced,” he said. “They see me as a good athlete and good person, nothing else really matters to them. They are such a great group of people, I couldn’t speak more highly of them.”
Blevins also owns the Jersey Diving Academy, where he teaches young people the sport. After his win, he thanked “the kids at Jersey Diving Academy who continue to inspire me everyday.”
Blevins can be reached on Facebook.
