John Gregorek (born 15 April 1960) is an American former Middle distance running, middle-distance runner who competed in the Summer Olympics in 1980 Summer Olympics boycott, 1980 (boycotted) and 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984. His son, John Gregorek Jr., is also a competitive middle-distance runner, who competed in the 2017 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 1500 metres, 2017 World Championships.

Running career

High school

Gregorek attended St. Anthony's High School (South Huntington, New York), St. Anthony's High School, for which he competed in cross country and track. 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.

Collegiate

Gregorek attended Georgetown University, 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 List of Congressional Gold Medal recipients, Congressional Gold Medals created especially for the spurned athletes. 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.

Post-collegiate

Gregorek represented the United States at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics, ran the 1987 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 5000 metres, 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 United States Olympic Trials (track and field), US Olympic Trials for the 5000 meters, but did not appear at the 1992 Summer Olympics.
Track and Field Statistics - USA Olympic Trials -Men's - New Orleans 1992 Gregorek moved to Seekonk, Massachusetts, and coached the men's distance and cross country teams at Brown University for a time. He was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in the Track & Field Category with the Class of 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gregorek, John 1960 births Living people American male middle-distance runners American male steeplechase runners Georgetown Hoyas men's track and field athletes Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Track and field athletes from New York (state) Congressional Gold Medal recipients Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) People from Seekonk, Massachusetts Sportspeople from Huntington, New York Brown Bears cross country coaches Brown Bears track and field coaches FISU World University Games gold medalists for the United States Medalists at the 1981 Summer Universiade St. Anthony's High School (South Huntington, New York) alumni