Today is celebrated World AIDS Day in order to raise awareness and publicize the progress of a disease that has killed more than 39 million people around the planet and that for a long time suffered from severe social stigma. . HIV is a disease that does not distinguish between rich and poor, nor between famous and unknown. Many great athletes have had to face it and the consequences of announcing it publicly. These are some of the most notable:
1.Magic Johnson
Being one of the most important basketball players in the NBA in the 90s, Magic Johnson surprised everyone when he announced that he was HIV positive in a massive press conference on November 7, 1991. However, he has been able to control the disease and maintains his life by focusing on his organization “The Magic Johnson Foundation”which has helped raise awareness about the disease and care for children affected by HIV.
2. Arthur Ashe

The legendary American tennis player was one of the first public victims to suffer from AIDS due to a blood transfusion. He won several tournaments of great importance, including three of the four Grand Slams: the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. He contracted the virus during open heart surgery in 1983. In 1993 AIDS complicated pneumonia and he died.
3. Eduardo Esidio

It was the first known case of a soccer player with HIV, which was diagnosed in 1998. The Brazilian soccer player, who played as a forward in the Brazilian and Peruvian Leagues, He announced in 1998 at the age of 27 that he was a carrier of the virus.which generated great controversy in his country at that time. “I’m not sick. I have a virus, yes, but I am not sick,” he declared through tears. Following the news, he terminated his contract with the Universitario de Lima and became a fervent Christian. At 50 years old, he continues to fight this disease. A campaign carried out by Peru’s top soccer scorer meant that since then, All clubs in the world carry out blood tests on their players in order to detect this disease.
4. Greg Louganis

The American jumper, winner of two gold medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, another two in Seoul 88 and five World Cups, announced that he was infected in February 1995, at 35 years old. Louganis had been one of the athletes who in his time challenged social prejudices by publicly declaring himself homosexual. The news caused controversy because some remembered the blow in Seoul that caused him great blood loss when he already knew that he was a carrier of the AIDS virus, although that fact was not a reason for infection to the other jumpers and the IOC quickly came to his defense. . After his announcement of being HIV positive, he lost most of his sponsors, with the exception of Speedo. In 1997, a television movie was made about his biography, “Breaking the Surface” directed by Steven H. Stern. In 1999, Louganis’s second book, For the Life of Your Dog (written with Betsy Sikora Siino). Now he is 60 years old and acts in plays on Broadway.
5. Ji Wallace

The Australian gymnast won the medal silver in trampoline at the 2000 Sydney Olympicsin addition to several titles in the specialty world championships. In 2005, he came out publicly as gay and was the first Australian to be named a Gay Games Ambassador. In 2012, in an open letter in the Sydney Star Observer, a gay-oriented weekly tabloid, he revealed that he was HIV positive. Wallace was a cast member of Cirque du Soleil in their show ZAIA in Macau, China. In October 2008, while performing an acrobatic move, Ji fell seriously causing major injuries; He spent 21 months rehabilitating his right ankle, successfully learning to walk again. In August 2010 he began working as a trainer in Montreal at the Cirque du Soleil headquarters, but in 2012 he returned to his native Australia, where he is now a trainer for a trampoline program run by the “Sky Zone” trampoline park chain. He is 43 years old.
6. Tommy Morrison

Another “White Hope” in the world of heavyweights in boxing. He achieved great notoriety when he participated in the film Rocky IV, playing Rocky’s student. World Champion defeating George Foreman, he lost the title in his first defense. In 1996 he retired when he found out that he had AIDS. He returned to boxing in 2007 but only had three fights. He died in 2013.
7. Rudy Galindo

She won several championships in the 80s and 90s in individual and couples categories, with her most remembered partner being the skater Kristi Yamaguchi, and she was also 1996 United States figure skating championthat same year he announced his retirement and In 2000 he announced that he was homosexual and HIV positive..
8. Jerry Smith

He was the first American professional athlete to die from AIDS. The star of the Washington Redskins He was a two-time All-Pro selection and many of his former NFL personal bests remained unbeaten for several years. The NFL footballer publicly admitted his illness but not his homosexuality. He died on October 15, 1986 at the age of 43.