Jonathan Yue

MacNeill not only credits hard work for his success, but he also credits those around him for pushing him: his parents, his coaches Bob Westman and Carl Georgevski and his teammates.

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"My dad kind of always said, 'Gregory, you have the tools to be successful and we will do whatever you need us to do,'" MacNeill said. "We'll push you harder, but at the end of the day... you've got to want to do it.'"

With 2016 quickly approaching, MacNeill has a new goal, the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His personal coach, Bob Westman, thinks MacNeill can achieve that goal.

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"He's very driven. Pan Am for him was a big experience and he was learning and seeing the habits of what being an elite international form of hurdler was doing," Westman said. "The plan for the summer is to get in the right meets, run the qualifying time and execute at nationals."

MacNeill is also a type one diabetic, but he doesn't let that define who he is. Diagnosed at the age of nine, others have often described it as his first hurdle that he had to overcome. But to Gregory MacNeill, it's nothing more than just another thing he goes through on a daily basis.

"It's almost like second nature to me. When someone asks me to describe myself, that's definitely not the first thing that comes to mind," MacNeill said. "There's a lot more to Gregory MacNeill than just being a Type one diabetic."

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Studying in his last year at the University of Toronto, MacNeill has also began to think about his future after he graduates and even after track and field.

"You can only do track for so long, so you have to think about it," MacNeill reflects. "One of my biggest fears in life is being done track, having my career come to an end, and nothing set up, nothing prepared afterwards."

MacNeill has applied to graduate school to continue his education with the hopes of getting into a sports management position or opening a sports clinic with some of his close colleagues.

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Currently training and competing with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, MacNeill's focused only on track. MacNeill and the other members of the Varsity team complete rigorous sprint workouts, sometimes even through the pains of injuries. But that doesn't stop MacNeill, he pushes on to complete the workout. Through his work ethic and determination to achieve his goals, MacNeill is one of the leaders on the team, encouraging his teammates to be better, on and off the track.

 

Gregory MacNeill trains for that opportunity to compete at the world's highest stage, the Olympic Games. Sprinting around the curve of the last 300 metre repeats during practice, MacNeill can hear the encouragement of his teammates and it propels him to focus, forget about the burning pain in his muscles, and gives him that last push to finish the practice on a strong note.

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"They're a big reason I am successful at track and field," MacNeill said. "They push me every day at practice, they encourage me, and they're my number one fans."

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One of those teammates is Rayshaun Franklin. An athlete for the Toronto Varsity Blues and MacNeill's sprint training partner, he believes MacNeill has what it takes.

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"It's just really who can string together the most consistent effort without distraction, without getting injured," Franklin commented. "He does every little thing to maintain his health."

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MacNeill believes he can make it to the start line of the 400m hurdles race in Rio in 2016. Driven by his experiences at the Pan American Games, MacNeill is hungry for the international stage.

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"Being able to make the (Olympic) team would kind of not only be what our sport strives for, but also be a good closure to a chapter of my life."