Genevieve Gregson

Genevieve Gregson (née LaCaze; born 4 August 1989) is an Australian athletics competitor who specialises in the 3000 metre steeplechase. She is the AR and National record holder in the event with a PB of 9.14.28. She held an athletics scholarship at the University of Florida. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and Athletics at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. LaCaze is of French, Italian and Spanish descent.

Genevieve Gregson (née LaCaze)
Personal information
Nickname(s)Gen
National team Australia
Born (1989-08-04) 4 August 1989
Benowa, Queensland, Australia[1]
EducationUniversity of Florida
Height1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Weight54 kg (119 lb) (2018)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)3000 metres steeplechase
1500 metres
College teamFlorida Gators
Coached byNic Bideau

Genevieve LaCaze, whose nickname is Gen, spent her childhood in Brisbane,[2][3] where she attended Tamborine Mountain State School[4] before going to high school at the John Paul College in Daisy Hill.[2][5][6] She is from Queensland.[2][5][6] She attended the University of Florida,[2][3][6] where she majored in Social and Behavioral Sciences[4][6] from 2009 to 2012.[6] As of 2012, she lives in the United States.[4][7]

As of 2012, LaCaze is 164 centimetres (65 in) tall and weighs 53 kilograms (117 lb).[4]

Athletics

LaCaze competes in the 3000 metres steeplechase event[4][2] and the 1500 metres.[4] She started running when she was nine years old.[2] In the United States, she is coached by Paul Spangler.[4][7] In Australia, she was coached by David Howells.[6] She has also been coached by Todd Morgan.[4] As of 2018, she was coached by Nic Bideau.[8]

LaCaze finished second in the 2012 Melbourne Track Classic in the 3000 metres steeple chase.[4] LaCaze finished first at the 2012 Indianapolis American Milers Club in the 3000 metres steeple chase and first in the 1500 metres race.[4]

University

LaCaze accepted an athletics scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, to study Applied physiology and kinesiology. At the University of Florida she competed for the Florida Gators cross country and Florida Gators track and field teams in National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) competition from 2009 to 2012.[2][6][7] She competed in the university-hosted Mountain Dew Invitational held at the Mark Bostick Golf Course in Gainesville.[2][3][6] She finished fifth at the 2011 NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in the 3000 metres steeple chase, and second in the 2012 NCAA Division I Track and Field Championships in the same event, both held in Des Moines, Iowa.[4]

2012 London Olympics

LaCaze set an Olympic A-Qualifying time of 9:41, two days after the deadline set by Athletics Australia. She set the time at a race in Indianapolis.[2][3][7][9] She claimed her inability to set an Olympic A-Qualifying time earlier was a result of the university athletics schedule making it difficult to set a qualifying time.[2] After news of her too-late qualification time broke, she became a trending topic on Twitter under the hashtags #letlacazerun and #genlacaze as people indicated their support for her to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[9] Following the story, she was contacted by Nike and New Balance about potential sponsorship.[9] No other Australian athlete had qualified for the 3000m distance.

LaCaze was eventually chosen to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics after having initially been left off the squad.[5][10] Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates intervened asking Athletics Australia to include her on the squad.[3][5][7][10] Prior to Coates' support, Athletics Australia high performance manager Eric Hollingsworth had said that LaCaze did not deserve to go because she had not complied with Athletics Australia's nomination deadline.[3]

LaCaze was Australia's only female runner in the 3000 metre steeplechase event as no other Australian woman set an Olympic A-Qualifying time.[2][3] The Games was her first.[4] Her family planned to travel to London to watch her compete.[9] She did not qualify for the final but improved her personal best up to 9:37:90.[11]

Commonwealth Games 2014

LaCaze had a disappointing 2013 after breaking her ankle at the Birmingham Diamond League event in the buildup to the Moscow World Championships, for which she had qualified.[8] This injury made LaCaze call time on life in Florida where she had carried on living and training since graduating college in 2012 after the Olympics. LaCaze returned home and based herself in Melbourne training with Melbourne Track Club giving her the opportunity to train with Australia's best distance athletes and coach Nic Bideau. Since moving to Melbourne LaCaze has begun a relationship with fellow distance runner Ryan Gregson, whom she first met in 2007 under rather amusing circumstances.

LaCaze recovered well and set a qualifying time for the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth games. At the games LaCaze raced well in a lead group of five, but succumbed to the last lap pace and finished 5th in a personal best time of 9:37:04.[8]

Commonwealth Games Stage Invasion

During the closing ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games LaCaze got on stage during Kylie Minogue's performance of 'Locomotion'. The athlete claimed this was to celebrate her 25th birthday with the pop star whom she describes as a "legend".[12]

She failed to reach the final of the 2015 World Championships.[8]

2016 Rio Olympics

LaCaze set an Olympic Qualifying time of 9:45, in June 2015 at the New York Diamond League well before deadline set by Athletics Australia. Australian Olympic Committee selected LaCaze to make her third team. LaCaze was paired with Australia female runner in the 3000 metre steeplechase event who set an Olympic Qualifying time: Madeline Heiner Hills and Victoria Mitchell.

LaCaze placed ninth in the final in a personal best time of 9:21.21 in the women's 3000 metres steeplechase in a race where Ruth Jebet set an Asian area record and Emma Coburn set North American Area record. She also finished in twelfth in the 1500 m race.[8]

She finished in 12th in the 3000 m steeplechase at the 2017 World Championships, despite an injury-ravaged build up to the event.[8] Because of injuries, she raced only once before the World Championships.[8]

Commonwealth Games 2018

LaCaze finished in 5th at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in her home region of the Gold Coast, Australia.[13]

References
  1. "2018 CWG bio". Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  2. Murdoch, Alex (15 June 2012). "Setting an Olympic qualifying time two days after the deadline may rule Genevieve LaCaze out of London Olympics". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  3. Alex, By (15 June 2012). "Steeplechaser Genevieve LaCaze should miss Olympics, says Eric Hollingsworth". News.com.au. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  4. "London 2012 – Genevieve LaCaze". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  5. Kay Dibben; Scott Gullan (17 June 2012). "Steeplechaser Genevieve LaCaze's dashed Olympic dream comes true". Melbourne: Herald Sun. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  6. "Gator Women's Track & Field Roster/Bios". GatorZone.com. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  7. Scott Gullan; Alex Murdoch. "Steeplechaser Genevieve LaCaze begs selectors to let her run in London Games". Melbourne: Herald Sun. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  8. "Athletics | Athlete Profile: Genevieve LACAZE - Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games". results.gc2018.com. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
  9. Tin, Jason (18 June 2012). "Steeplechaser Genevieve LaCaze buoyed by online support for her London Olympic Games bid". The Courier-Mail. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  10. "Off track, a sport in crisis". Sydney: Sydney Morning Herald. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2012.
  11. "Result table". IAAF. Archived from the original on 11 August 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  12. "Athlete Genevieve LaCaze invades Kylie Minogue's Glasgow Games show". The Guardian (UK). Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  13. "Athletics | Result Women's 3000m Steeplechase Final - Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games". results.gc2018.com. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
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