John Cregan

athletics
silver	1900	800 m

John Francis Cregan (born January 29, 1878 in Schenectady ; New York , † December 26, 1965 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania ) was an American athlete and medalist at the Olympic Games .

Cregan was a student at Princeton University for a few years and a short time a member of the New York Athletic Club . During this time he was one of the best middle-distance runners in the USA. For his club he took part in the US Athletics Championships in 1897 and 1898 and won the 1-  mile run . As a student he participated from 1898 to 1900 in the competitions of the IC4A (Intercollegiale Association of Amateur Athlets of America) , which corresponded to the national student championships. He won the 880- yard run in 1898 and won the 1-mile run for  three years in a row.

The high point of his career was the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris . His intention was to start in the 800 meter run and the 1500 meter run . On July 14, Cregan easily won his 800m run. The next day, July 15th, was a Sunday. The prelims should be held over 1500 m. However, Cregan was a devout person whose religion forbade any sport on a Sunday. Together with his compatriot Alex Grant , he therefore decided against a start. The organizers had no sympathy with the wishes of many US athletes who did not want to compete on that day. They decided without further ado to forego the preliminaries over 1500 m because of the now lower number of participants and to organize the final run immediately. Cregan had thus been robbed of a sure medal chance.

Another day later, on July 16, Cregan competed in the 800 m final. He finished second behind the Briton Alfred Tysoe and thus secured the silver medal, his only medal at the Olympic Games.

John Cregan was also on the list of participants in the Paris marathon . It is not certain whether he actually started or whether he had to give up early. In any case, he did not reach the goal.

The placements at the Olympic Games for John Francis Cregan:

• II. Summer Olympics 1900, Paris
  • 800 m - SILVER with 2: 03.0 min (gold to Alfred Tysoe , GBR with 2: 01.2 min; bronze to David Hall , USA )
  • 1500 m - registered but not started
  • Marathon - reported but not started or abandoned

Note: With the exception of the time of the winner, the running times are estimated as there was no time measurement for those placed. With them, the gap to the winner or the first place was estimated with a length specification.

Nothing is known about the further life of John Cregan, who reached the age of almost 88 years.

Web links

• John Cregan in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )