Gregory Foster (August 4, 1958 – February 19, 2023) was an 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 the first person in the history of the

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

to win three consecutive

110 meters hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hurd ...

titles (1983, 1987, and 1991). Foster 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 ...

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 meters hurdles and was the NCAA 200 meters champion in 1979. He won 10 U.S. national titles, four of them outdoors in the 110 meters hurdles (1981, 1983, 1986, and 1987) and six indoors, in the 60 yard hurdles (1983, 1984, 1985), 55 meters hurdles (1987, 1988) and 60 meters hurdles (1991). Foster broke the world indoor record for the 50 meters hurdles in 1985 (6.35 seconds) and tied that mark in 1987. He also broke the 60 meters hurdles world indoor record in 1987 with a time of 7.36. He was the American record holder in the 110 meters hurdles with a time of 13.22 seconds set at the 1978 NCAA Championships while competing for

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, 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 ...

. Foster's mark held as an NCAA meet record for decades and still stands as a UCLA record as of 2022. His personal best time for the 110 meters hurdles was 13.03, run at the

Weltklasse Zürich Weltklasse Zürich () 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 Golden League events, it ...

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 ...

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. He 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 to

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

which he said was contained in his

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

medication. He retired from competition in 1996 and his many achievements saw him inducted into the USATF Hall of Fame in 1998.

Personal life and death

Foster was born in

Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. From 2015 until January 2020, he 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, weigh ...

, a rare, life-threatening disease that does considerable damage to the heart. Despite this, he remained involved in the sport, helping the next generation as a coach. On January 18, Foster underwent

heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...

surgery at Barnes Jewish Hospital. Foster died on February 19, 2023, at the age of 64.

Track records

As of 7 September 2024, Foster holds the following track records for 110 metres hurdles.

References

External links

* * 1958 births 2023 deaths 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 sportsmen NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners {{US-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub