Gregory Foster (born August 4, 1958) is a retired American

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

. He was born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He is the only person in the history of the

IAAF World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

to win three consecutive 110 meter hurdling titles (1983, 1987, and 1991). He was the

1981 IAAF World Cup The 3rd IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 4–6, 1981, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. Overall results M ...

and the 1991 World Indoor hurdling champion. As well as his international titles, Foster was twice NCAA outdoor champion (1978 and 1980) in the 110 meter hurdles and was the NCAA 200 meter dash champion in 1979. He won 10 U.S. national titles, four of them outdoors in the 110 meter hurdles (1981, 1983, 1986, and 1987) and six indoors, in the 60 yard hurdles (1983, 1984, 1985), 55 meter hurdles (1987, 1988) and 60 meter hurdles (1991). He broke the indoor

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

for the 50 meter hurdles in 1985 (6.35 seconds) and tied that mark in 1987. He also broke the 60 meter hurdle indoor world record in 1987 with a time of 7.36. He was the American Record Holder in the 110 meter hurdles at 13.22 seconds while competing for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

, second at the time only to Cuba's world record holder

Alejandro Casañas Alejandro Francisco Casañas Ramírez (born January 29, 1954) is a former Cuban hurdler. At the 1977 Summer Universiade in Sofia he set a new world record in the 110 m hurdles with a time 13.21 seconds. This record would, however, only stand ...

. His personal best time for the 110 meter hurdles was 13.03, run at the

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich ( en, World Class Zurich) is an annual, invitation-only, world-class track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zürich, Switzerland, generally held at the end of August or beginning of September. Previously one of the IAAF G ...

meet in 1981 in which

Renaldo Nehemiah Renaldo Nehemiah (born March 24, 1959) is a retired American track and field athlete who specialized in the 110 m hurdles. He was ranked number one in the world for four straight years, and is a former world record holder. Nehemiah is the first m ...

became the first man the break the 13 second barrier, with his 12.93. This once again made Foster the second-fastest hurdler of all time. Foster was ranked in the top ten hurdlers in the world for 15 out of 16 years 1977 to 1992. Five of those years, he was ranked number one, 1982, 1983, 1986, 1987 and 1991. Foster was suspended from athletics for six months in 1990 after testing positive

ephedrine Ephedrine is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is often used to prevent low blood pressure during anesthesia. It has also been used for asthma, narcolepsy, and obesity but is not the preferred treatment. It is of unclear benefit in ...

which he said was contained in his asthma medication.

Health issues

From 2015 until January 2020, Foster suffered from

amyloidosis Amyloidosis is a group of diseases in which abnormal proteins, known as amyloid fibrils, build up in tissue. There are several non-specific and vague signs and symptoms associated with amyloidosis. These include fatigue, peripheral edema, weight ...

, a rare, life-threatening disease that does considerable damage to the heart. On January 18, Foster underwent heart transplant surgery at Barnes Jewish Hospital.

References

External links

* * 1958 births Living people American male hurdlers American sportspeople in doping cases Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Doping cases in athletics UCLA Bruins men's track and field athletes World Athletics Championships medalists Track and field athletes from California Track and field athletes from Chicago Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for the United States in track and field Goodwill Games medalists in athletics World Athletics Indoor Championships winners World Athletics Championships winners Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Pan American Games track and field athletes for the United States 20th-century American people {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub