Gregory Louis Tafralis (April 9, 1958 – August 11, 2023) was an American

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete.

Early life and career

Gregory Louis Tafralis was born in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, on April 9, 1958. He set the best world year performance in the men's

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

event in 1992. He competed for his native country at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

, finishing in ninth place. He won two silver medals at the Pan American Games, first in 1987 and then in 1995. The second medal was taken away from him because of a positive test for steroids at an earlier meet. After his suspension ran out in 1999, Tafralis tested positive for a banned substance methandienone and was banned for life. His personal best throw was 21.98 metres, achieved in May 1988 in Los Gatos.

Personal life and death

His son

Adam Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam). According to Christianity, Adam ...

, was a

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

who currently plays for the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

. Gregg Tafralis died on August 11, 2023, at the age of 65.

References

External links

Profile

1958 births 2023 deaths American male shot putters Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic track and field athletes for the United States Doping cases in athletics American sportspeople in doping cases Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1995 Pan American Games Track and field athletes from San Francisco Medalists at the 1987 Pan American Games Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States in athletics (track and field) 20th-century American sportsmen {{US-shotput-athletics-bio-stub