Craig Virgin, OLY

* 3x Track & Field Olympian, 2x World XC Champion, 5x Halls of Fame * Motivational Speaker, Clinician, Broadcasting, Spokesperson, Father.

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

Thanks, Mike. I found that the 3rd US team was the hardest to make because I was not 100% healthy and that really increases an already high degree of difficulty in making an Olympic Team! That is why 3-4 team berths is so rare! Longevity is hard to come by in the 10,000 m event.

[Mike Pearson @illinilegends]

• 42 years ago this week - June 19, 1984 - @IlliniTrackXC alum @CraigVirgin became the first-ever American to make the Olympic Team three times in the 10,000-meter run. Photo restored by Moments Made Clear: https://t.co/XFXuUs7FBW

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@yougoofyho3 @CitiusMag Because this drug is a masking agent often used to avoid testing positive when using PED’s. They flag and ban PED’s and also the masking agents used to try to hide the PED usage. BOTH are banned. Make sense?

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

Thanks, Dan. I was down at the World Cross CountryChamps in Tallahassee and was interviewed at the pre-race press conference by several running sites. That quote was totally spontaneous by me… but I stand by it! I had several interviews that wkend and musta gotten warmed up?!?

[Dan Gray @PNDXCTrack]

From https://t.co/1yK6Dl8UFB: ...2-time World XC Champion @CraigVirgin, had a great line about whether XC should be in the Winter Olympics: "If they can have breakdancing in the Summer Olympics, then we can certainly have cross country in the Winter Olympics."

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@TheTadDaley @usatf @IAAF @WorldAthletics Finally, I was a member of Fred Lebow’s bid presentation team to the IAAF to secure the bid for the first ever World Cross Country Championships to be hosted by the USA … by New York in 1984! We did so in 1981 at the World Champs gathering in Madrid where I defended my title.

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@TheTadDaley @usatf @IAAF @WorldAthletics I was in attendance the last time it was hosted in the USA… at Boston in 1992. Interesting enough… that was the year and the national vehicle that I used to announce my retirement from professional running.., and announce my candidacy for the Illinois State Senate instead.

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@WightmanGeoff @AthleticsWeekly And a really good man, too. He was tough as nails during the race… but a true gentleman afterwards… win or lose! There are few of those kinds of men to go around. It was a blessing in my life to know him and to be able to face him… out on the field of battle. Happy Birthday!

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@WightmanGeoff @AthleticsWeekly Happy 74th birthday to my old running rival (and friend), Nick Rose! I competed against him at both the US collegiate level .. and then on the world class level. Maybe the most talented and toughest runner I ever faced. Effective from 800 m to the marathon! Truly a wide range!

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@jgault13 On first blush, I would also suggest that they hold the team trials in early Jan & the world champs in early Feb as a fair compromise between the too early start this year & the too late March event schedule in decades past? Still workable for indoor track & April marathon races.

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@jgault13 Coming from a time when World XC flourished when held on a yearly basis…I think that skipping 2027 and waiting until 2029 will just put another nail in the coffin of this great event moving forward. I also suspect that they did not have any active & interested bidders for 2027?

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@stevemagness Amen, Steve! We can only hope?

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@DavidWoods007 @DyeStat @IlliniTrackXC @USTFCCCA @IHSA_IL I could not have conceived what it would feel like 50 years after that memorable victory?!? 50 years was simply to long of a time to wrap my head around! But, here we are … and I am grateful to still be alive and maybe attend! So many of my top competitors are no longer with us.

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@DavidWoods007 @DyeStat @IlliniTrackXC @USTFCCCA @IHSA_IL The 2025 NCAA XC Champs is at U of Missouri this year. I am trying to make last minute arrangements to attend and root on today’s generation of top college runners in a sport that I dearly love. They may not know me … but I understand better than most what they’re up against.

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@reneknottsports Craig Virgin here, Rene. Please reach back to me. By phone or email… I know you have both since you tried to reach out to me last year for your pre-Olympics package. We can talk then about “life transitions“ and “new beginnings!“ It happens to everybody if we live long enough.

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@illinilegends @IlliniAthletics @perditafelicien @deebrown11 @DeronWilliams Thanks, Mike. Sadly, some of those inducted that 1st year… are no longer with us. At least physically. So glad they got the honor before passing. I, for one, am grateful to be alive and looking forward to helping induct my track & cross country teammate, Mike Durkin, in 2 wks!

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@geric99018902 Nov 1975 NCAA XC Champs at Penn State. Left WSU’s Ngeno & Kimeto in the dust and now a man to man battle to the death w/ WKY’s/Great Britain’s Nick Rose. One of the distance runners that I respected most as a fellow competitor. Nick had all the skills and was so mentally tough.

[Craig Virgin, OLY @CraigVirgin]

@geric99018902 My 1st race for Nike’s 1st ever sponsored track club, Athletics West in Oct 1977. It was a local race in Eugene, OR & the 10K course was basically all within Alton Baker Park on roads & bike paths. I won the race in a time close to 28:20 but I suspect that the course was short.