Greg Foster, Olympic medalist, world champion in hurdles, dies at 64

Greg Foster, the 1984 Olympic silver medalist and three-time world champion in the 110m hurdles, has died at age 64, according to NBC Sports analyst Ato Boldon and UCLA track and field.

In 2020, Foster had a heart transplant after being diagnosed with amyloidosis in 2016 and undergoing chemotherapy.

From 1981 through 1991, Foster won six national 110m hurdles titles (including the 1984 Olympic Trials), gold at the first three editions of the world outdoor championships in 1983, 1987 and 1991 and the 1984 Olympic silver medal in Los Angeles.

In August 1981, Foster ran his personal best of 13.03 seconds, finishing runner-up to rival Renaldo Nehemiah in a race where Nehemiah became the first man to break 13 seconds in the 110m hurdles.

Foster, in relation to Nehemiah, was “Gehrig to his sport’s Ruth, Alydar to Affirmed, the Lakers to the Celtics,” the Washington Post wrote.

After Nehemiah left track for the NFL, Foster won the 1983 World title despite hitting the eighth and ninth of 10 hurdles.

He entered the 1984 Los Angeles Games with the four fastest times in the world for the year, according to World Athletics. In the final, Foster flinched in the starting blocks, yet quickly regained the lead from lane one before being beaten at the tape by three hundredths by Roger Kingdom from lane eight.

“For a year and a half before that Olympics, I never lost,” Foster said, according to the Chicago Tribune. “I would have loved to lose all those races and win the Olympics.”

In 1985, Foster’s mom, an aunt, a cousin and his 5-year-old nephew who had been named after him died from a hit-and-run car accident.

Foster won the 1986 U.S. title, then repeated as world champion in 1987.

Foster, once engaged to Florence Griffith Joyner, broke