Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||
Born | Huntington, New York | April 15, 1960||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||
Sport | Track | ||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 1500 meters, mile, 3000 meters steeplechase, 5000 meters | ||||||||||||||
College team | Georgetown | ||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 1500m : 3:35.3 [1] Mile : 3:51.34 [1] 3000m : 7:42.18 [1] 3k steeple : 8:18.45 [1] 5000m : 13:17.44 [1] | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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John Gregorek (born 15 April 1960) is an American former middle-distance runner who competed in the Summer Olympics in 1980 (boycotted) and 1984. [2] His son, John Gregorek Jr., is also a competitive middle-distance runner, [3] who competed in the 2017 World Championships.
Gregorek attended St. Anthony's High School, for which he competed in cross country and track. [4] By the time he graduated high school, he was the fastest high school runner in the United States in 1978, posting times of 4:05.4 in the mile and 8:50.7 in two miles. [3]
Gregorek attended Georgetown on an athletic scholarship. In his sophomore year he made the US Olympic team as a 3000-m steeplechaser but was unable to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. He did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes. [5] On April 23, 1982, Gregorek was the anchor of the Georgetown distance medley team which ended Villanova's 16-year DM streak at the Penn Relays, beating Villanova's anchor and celebrated runner Ross Donoghue by two meters. [6]
Gregorek represented the United States at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, ran the second heat of the 5000 meters and recorded a time of 14:01. He did not make it past the first round. In 1992, Gregorek finished third in the 1992 US Olympic Trials for the 5000 meters, but did not appear at the 1992 Summer Olympics. [7]
Gregorek moved to Seekonk, Massachusetts, and coached the men's distance and cross country teams at Brown University for a time. [3] He was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in the Track & Field Category with the Class of 2015.
Steve Scott is an American former track athlete and one of the greatest mile runners in American history. The silver medalist in the 1500 meters at the inaugural IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki in 1983, Scott owns the U.S. indoor record in the 2000 meters (4:58.6-1981). He held the American outdoor mile record for more than 26 years and also is the former American indoor record holder in the same event. Track & Field News ranked Scott #1 in the U.S. on 10 occasions, and 11 times during his career he was ranked in the top ten in the world by T&FN. Additionally, he participated for the US team at the 1984 Olympics. He finished 5th in the 1500 meter run at the 1988 Olympics held in Korea. Scott was also an Olympian on the 1980 Olympics team which was not allowed to go to Moscow. He ran the sub four-minute mile on 136 occasions in his career, more than any other runner in history.
Mary Teresa Slaney is an American retired middle-distance and long-distance runner. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships and was the world-record holder in the mile, 5000 meters and 10,000 meters. In total, she set 17 official and unofficial world records, and she was the first woman to break 4:20 for the mile. She also set 36 U.S. national records at distances ranging from 800 meters to 10,000 meters, and has held the U.S. record in the 2000 meters and 3000 meters since the early 1980s, while her 1500 meters record stood for 32 years and her mile record stood for 38 years. In 2003, she was inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.
Craig Steven Virgin is an American distance runner. He was born in Belleville, Illinois, and grew up near Lebanon, Illinois. While in high school, Virgin won 5 state championships as well as setting the national outdoor high school 2-mile record of 8:40.9. Additionally, Virgin held the Illinois Boys Cross Country all-time state championship record for 47 years, running a 13:50.6 in 1972, a record that stood until November 9, 2019, when Josh Methner of John Hersey High School ran a 13:49.86. Virgin was Track and Field News "High School Athlete of the Year" in 1973.
Louise Dorothy Ritter is an American former track and field athlete who won the gold medal in the high jump at the 1988 Olympic Games.
Benita Fitzgerald Mosley is a retired American athlete, who mainly competed in the women's 100 metres hurdles event. Currently, Benita is a CEO of the company Multiplying Good with their mission being "to inspire greatness through service to others."
John Gates Powell was an American track and field athlete who specialized in the discus throw. He set a world record at 69.08 meters in 1975, and his personal best of 71.26 meters ties him for ninth place in the all-time performers list.
Maurice Malcolm "Mac" Wilkins is an American athlete, who competed mainly in the discus throw. He was born in Eugene, Oregon and graduated in 1969 from Beaverton High School in Beaverton, Oregon.
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Alice Regina Brown is a retired American sprinter. Competing at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics she won two relay gold medals and an individual silver medal. She attended John Muir High School and California State University, Northridge.
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Sosthenes Bitok is a retired long-distance runner from Kenya, who represented his native country in the men's 10,000 metres at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. There he finished in sixth place, clocking 28:09.01 in the final.
Stanley Floyd is a retired track and field sprinter from the United States. He was a 1979 graduate of Dougherty High School in Albany, Georgia. In 1980, he was considered one of the favorites for the 100m title but was denied his chance due to the United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics.
Matthew Centrowitz Sr. is a two-time Olympic distance runner, a four-time United States champion, a collegiate All-American, a nationally renowned high school athlete, and a collegiate cross country and track coach.
Bill McChesney, Jr. was an American long-distance runner from Eugene, Oregon. He is Oregon's former record holder in the 5,000 meters.
James J. Robinson Jr. is a former American middle distance runner. He was the dominant American 800 meters runner from the mid-1970s through the mid 1980s. He ran in the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, finishing fifth in his semi-final and not making the final. He was on the ill-fated 1980 U.S. Olympic team that did not get to compete due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. He did however receive one of 461 Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes.
Donald J. Paige is an American retired middle-distance runner.
Frances Anne "Francie" Larrieu Smith is an American track and field athlete. She was the flagbearer at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona for the United States of America. Larrieu Smith was the third female American athlete to make five American Olympic teams, behind the six of fencer Jan York-Romary and Track and Field's Willye White. The feat was later equaled by basketball player Teresa Edwards, track and field's Gail Devers, cyclist/speedskater Chris Witty and swimmer Dara Torres. After one of the longest elite careers on record, she retired from that level of competition.
Willie James Smith III was an American athlete who was the national champion 400 metres runner in 1979-80, and a gold medal winner at the 1984 Olympics in the 4 × 400 m relay.
Julie Ann Brown is retired distance runner. She won the IAAF World Cross Country Championship in 1975 and represented the United States in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the women's marathon.
Gwen Gardner is an American female track and field sprinter who specialized in the 400-meter dash. An African-American, she grew up in Los Angeles, California. Collegiately she competed for the UNLV Rebels and was among their best sprinters in the mid-1980s.