Veteran middle-distance runner Ryan Gregson has been forced to apologise for using a “derogatory” word during a podcast.
The Aussie Olympian sparked an online storm when he appeared on the For The Kudos podcast and used the term “getting chicked” — relating to a male been beaten by a female.
“You’re on track for a PB, you know you’re going well, but there’s a girl right next to you at halfway,” Gregson said on the podcast.
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“Like you’re just re-evaluating everything, you’re like I’m on for a career-day but am I going to get chicked,” he continued.
The female athlete in the Gregson story was Kenyan superstar Agnes Jebet Ngetich, the reigning World Cross Country champion who set a world record for the 10km in 2024 in a mixed-gender race in Spain.
But Gregson was immediately under fire after dropping the term “getting chicked”, with listeners slamming him and the podcast.
Sporting superstar Chloe Dalton — the AFLW player who has also won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics when representing Australia in rugby sevens — called the term incredibly “concerning”.
One listener said: “Groosssssss … this is so boring … The best men champion women. Insecure men start podcasts, bragging about their ‘achievements’ and listen to the sound of their own voices in their spare time 🥲.”
And another: “I genuinely hope you don’t coach any females. When someone shows you their true colours – believe them. Those internal thoughts you said out loud is who you are to the core.”
And another: “We really need to stop giving men microphones.”
And another: ”If you are that insecure and desperately need someone to listen to you … there’s something else called THERAPY.”
“Gross,” another listener added.
Gregson — who shares two children with wife and Aussie marathon runner Genevieve Gregson — then released an apology via another podcast.
“From the bottom of my heart I am truly sorry,” he said.
“That isn’t me, I respect female athletes in this sport so much especially because my wife is one of them.”
Gregson admitted the term was “wrong” and “derogatory” and said it painted “a terrible” and incorrect picture of how he viewed female athletes.
