John Treacy
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men's Athletics | ||
Representing  Ireland
|
||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
1984 Los Angeles | Marathon |
| World Cross-Country Championships | ||
 |
1978 Glasgow | Long Race |
|
1979 Limerick | Long Race |
|
1979 Limerick | Team Long Race |
John Treacy (born 4 June 1957 in Villierstown, County Waterford) is an Irish former athlete and Olympic medalist. He represented Ireland at four Olympic Games between 1980 and 1992. His nickname was "The Mudlark," due to his winning consecutive world cross−country championships in muddy conditions.
Treacy attended St Anne's Post-Primary School in Cappoquin, Co. Waterford, running 12 km to school every morning. He graduated from Providence College in the United States. In 1978 and 1979 he won the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Glasgow and Limerick respectively.
At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles he won a silver medal in the marathon, placing Ireland 33rd on the medals table.
Treacy was known as a tenacious runner who did not have an especially sharp final kick in track races. In the 1978 European Athletics Championships in Prague, he placed 11th in the fast 10,000-metre race and fourth in the slow and tactical 5,000-metre race, losing to Italy's Venanzio Ortis by just three tenths of a second. In the 5,000-metre final, he lingered behind Great Britain's Nick Rose on the final back straight just after Rose had dropped from the lead group.
In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, Treacy collapsed in his 10,000-metre heat with only 200 metres left, a victim of heat paralysis and dehydration. Because Treacy was running in fourth place when he collapsed and because only the top four runners qualified directly for the final from the three heats, his collapse helped Finnish four-time Olympic champion Lasse Virén to qualify directly for the final. Having recovered from his heat-induced collapse, Treacy placed seventh in the 5,000-metre final of those Olympics.
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