| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | American | ||||||||||||||
| Born | (1960-04-15)April 15, 1960 (age 65) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track | ||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 1500 meters,mile,3000 meters steeplechase,5000 meters | ||||||||||||||
| College team | Georgetown | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Personalbest(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 formermiddle-distance runner who competed in theSummer Olympics in1980 (boycotted) and1984.[2] His son,John Gregorek Jr., is also a competitive middle-distance runner,[3] who competed in the2017 World Championships.
Gregorek attendedSt. 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 intwo miles.[3]
Gregorek attendedGeorgetown 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 the1980 Summer Olympics boycott. He did however receive one of 461Congressional 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 thePenn Relays, beating Villanova's anchor and celebrated runnerRoss Donoghue by two meters.[6]
Gregorek represented theUnited States at the1987 World Championships in Athletics, ran thesecond 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 1992US Olympic Trials for the 5000 meters, but did not appear at the 1992 Summer Olympics.[7]
Gregorek moved toSeekonk, Massachusetts, and coached the men's distance and cross country teams atBrown University for a time.[3] He was inducted into theSuffolk Sports Hall of Fame onLong Island in the Track & Field Category with the Class of 2015.
