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John Treacy had a long and distinguished career as an international
distance runner on the track, in cross-country, and finally as a
marathon runner. Treacy's first major success as a senior athlete was
in the international cross-country championships, which he won in 1978
at Glasgow, and again the following year in Limerick. Between these two
victories he competed at the 1978 European Championships in Prague,
where he finished 4th in the 5000m and 11th in the 10000m. At the 1980
Olympic Games in Moscow, Treacy finished 7th in the 5000m, but was
eliminated in the heats of the 10000m. At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los
Angeles, Treacy finished 9th in the 10000m, but it was his decision to
also contest the marathon, an event he had never previously attempted,
which caused a major turning point in his career.
Despite his
inexperience as a marathoner, Treacy managed to stay with a large
leading group which sped through the halfway mark at sub 2hr 9min pace.
Runners gradually dropped from the leading pack until with 5km to go
only three runners, Treacy, Carlos Lopes (Portugal), and Charles
Spedding (Great Britain) remained. At this point Lopes broke away from
the other two, building an unassailable lead, and left them to fight out
second place. As they entered the stadium, Spedding had a slight lead
over Treacy, but John caught and passed him, eventually crossing the
line (see photo above) in 2hr 9min 56sec, to win the silver medal
by 2 seconds from Spedding. Although he did not totally forsake track
competition, Treacy's career after that was predominantly as a
marathoner, and he gained a number of high placings at big-city races.
Treacy competed in the next two Olympic marathons, failing to finish at
Seoul in 1988, and finishing 51st at Barcelona four years later. (Ron Casey)
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