Raised in Vancouver, Greg Joy began high jumping at age fifteen and cleared two metres (six feet six and three-quarter inches) in his first competitive year. Twice named “Top BC High School Athlete” in 1972 and 1973, he went on to capture an Olympic silver medal in Montreal in 1976. Later in his career he was forced to take time off to recover from major knee and achilles problems, but made a comeback in 1982 and competed at the Commonwealth games in Brisbane, Australia. Joy was named “Canadian Male Athlete of the Year” in 1976.

In grade eleven, Joy won gold at the 1973 Canada Games in Burnaby with a jump of 2.10m (six feet ten inches) and placed second at the 1974 Canadian national high jump championships. By that year he had broken the seven-foot barrier.

In 1975, Joy set a Canadian junior collegiate record for the high jump at 2.00m (seven feet three and three-quarter inches) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1976, he became Canada’s high jump champion, leaping 2.26m and setting a British Commonwealth record. He would hold the national title successfully for the next two years.

Joy’s silver medal at the 1976 Olympics was Canada’s first Olympic medal in the high jump since 1932 when Vancouverite and fellow BC Sports Hall of Famer Duncan McNaughton took the gold. Joy’s medal is often considered the closest Canada came to winning an Olympic gold medal as host country at these Games.

In 1978, Joy set a world indoor record with a jump of 2.31m (seven feet seven inches). Later that year, he captured another silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton with 2.18m jump.

After a series of operations on his knee and Achilles tendon between 1979 and 1981, Joy placed second in the Canadian championships and gained a spot on the 1982 Canadian Commonwealth Games team heading to Brisbane, Australia. There he captured another silver medal. After placing second at the 1984 Canadian Olympic trials, Joy announced his retirement.