DURHAM -- Duke divers Abby Johnston and Nick McCrory are receiving some outside coaching this weekend as they prepare to compete in the 2011 Diving World Championships.
Neither Johnston nor McCrory was alive when their visitor was dominating international diving in the 1980s. But they are both well aware of Greg Louganis' legacy as the most decorated American diver in Olympic history.
"It's awesome to have him here," Johnston said of Louganis, who began working with the young divers Friday morning at Duke's dry-land training center off campus. "His résumé is intimidating. It's my dream to have one like that some day."
A double Olympic gold-medal winner in 1984 and 1988 who won 47 U.S. national championships and three NCAA titles, Louganis was scheduled to work with the two Blue Devils divers through Sunday as they train for the upcoming world championships in Shanghai, China.
Johnston and McCrory will be joined there by Blue Devils coach Drew Johansen, who is doubling as the U.S. coach for the World Championships. The July 16-31 event marks the first opportunity for countries to qualify divers for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
At 51, Louganis is not as muscular as he used to be, but the king of U.S. diving is still trim and looks as though he could still step up to the 10-meter platform and execute a flawless triple backflip.
"Sometimes they (young divers) can convince me to get in the pool," Louganis said with a smile.
However, Louganis prefers to stay dry while coaching these days and carries the air of a relaxed, yet reliable, mentor. He doesn't have to yell at his pupils to gain their respect - his track record captures their attention.
"Since they know I'm someone who's been there, who's had success, it helps me gain their trust," Louganis said. "When they hear me reinforce what their coaches are saying, they start to believe it even more."
Based in California, Louganis mentors youth divers as part of a USA Diving program. Passing along the sport's technical knowledge is important, he said, but knowing how to deal with the pressure that comes with being an international-class athlete is equally valuable.
"We have the talent in the States, a lot of it is just keeping it together (mentally)," Louganis said. "The Olympics are a media circus. If you get caught up in it, you lose sight of your true goals."
In their shared time at Duke, Johnston and McCrory have showcased the talent that could put U.S. diving back on the map.
A rising senior, Johnston, 21, won Duke's first women's national individual title for swimming and diving this spring when she won the three-meter springboard at the NCAA Championships. She was named the ACC Women's Diver of the Year as a sophomore and junior.
Johnston will compete in the one-meter springboard, a non-Olympic event, at the World Championships.
McCrory, who won his second straight NCAA title in platform diving in March, faces the additional pressure of competing in the 10-meter and 10-meter synchronized events with the hopes of helping the United States qualify for the Olympics.
"Yeah, it's a little more pressure, but I'm trying not to look at it that way," said McCrory, 19, a Chapel Hill native. "I'm just focusing on diving like it's any other meet."
A rising junior, McCrory set the NCAA Championship record for platform diving this past spring with 548.90 points. For the past two years, he has equaled Johnston by winning the ACC Men's Diver of the Year honors.
Through coaching, Louganis said he hopes to help the U.S. regain the former dominance in diving. More recently China has dominated the sport, winning seven of eight gold medals and 11 of 24 total medals at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
"We haven't won any medals in the Olympics since 2000," Louganis said. "The global state of diving right now is that everyone is chasing China. They studied all the things that I and other great divers did. They have videos of me diving when I was, like, 6 years old that I don't even have."
But what China does not have is Louganis himself.
"I'm excited to sit down and talk with him about what to expect," McCrory said. "It'll be good to talk to someone who's been through it all. ... He's someone I've looked up to for a long time. My first diving coach, who coached me since I was 7 years old, gave me a picture of him."
As much as his pupils have benefited from his advice, Louganis said coaching has been tremendously rewarding.
"I've been getting so much from this [mentor program], he said. "It's an honor to be a witness to the talent here."
And from what he's seen so far from Duke's young divers, U.S. diving is in good hands.
"Nick and Abby - they're great kids. They have a great future," Louganis said. "They could really come together and compete next year [at the Olympics].
