US diver Greg Louganis, pictured at the 1988 Seoul Games, has put three Olympic medals and memorabilia up for auction to fund an AIDS centre ©Getty Images

Thirty-five years after the Olympic Games in Seoul, famed United States diver Greg Louganis has put the 10 metre platform gold medal he won there up for auction to raise funds for an AIDS service centre.

Louganis, 63, made history at Seoul 1988 by becoming he only male diver to win back-to-back gold medals in both the 3m springboard and 10m platform events at the Olympics.

The auction, with Bonhams, also includes the 3m springboard gold he won at Los Angeles 1984 and the silver medal he won in the 10m platform event at Montreal 1976.

The medals, and a host of other memorabilia, are being used to support the Damien Center, Indiana’s oldest and largest AIDS services centre.

Louganis is a gay icon, having become one of the first high-profile athletes to come out publicly, something he did at the 1994 Gay Games.

In 1995 he published a memoir announcing his HIV+ status, something he had first had diagnosed six months before the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

“The medals, they’re in the history books,” Louganis said.

“Instead of holding on to them, I’m aiming to share my piece of Olympic history with collectors; together, we can help the Damien Center and its community to grow and thrive.”

US diver Greg Louganis has auctioned three of his Olympic medals, including his 10m platform gold from the 1988 Seoul Games, and other memorabilia to raise funds for an AIDS centre in Indianapolis ©Bonhams
US diver Greg Louganis has auctioned three of his Olympic medals, including his 10m platform gold from the 1988 Seoul Games, and other memorabilia to raise funds for an AIDS centre in Indianapolis ©Bonhams

Louganis hopes to name two areas of the Damien Center after his mother, Frances Louganis, and Ryan White, the teenager who died of AIDS in the 1990 and brought much compassion and attention to the cause.

Louganis gave the gold medal he won in the Seoul Olympics 3m springboard - after he had hit his head on the board during the preliminary competition - to White’s mother, and it is currently in the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis.

Louganis, who has coached in the sport since retiring, was prevented from adding to his Olympic medal collection by the United States boycott of the Moscow 1980 Games.

In the lead-up to the final auction the bid on his silver medal was at $350,000 (£282,000/€328,000) and at $750,000 (£605,500/€703,000) for each of his two golds.

As of the latest Bonhams information, none of the Olympic medals have yet reached their guide price.

Other items up for sale include an album put together by his mother for the 1976 Montreal Games, his diving briefs from those Games, and a Herb Ritts photo portrait of him - the last two having been sold for, respectively, $10,240 (£8,270/€9,600) and $2,560 (£2,000/€2,400).

For the story of Louganis’s fall and rise at the Seoul 1988 Olympics, go to the Big Read