Career
He was twice a medallist at the International University Games (1937 and 1939). His personal best was 16.40 m (53 ft 91⁄2 in), which was an Estonian record at the time. Born in Lihula, Lääne County, he reached international class in the mid 1930s, competing in the sport while at military school.
After receiving his first international call-up in 1936, he had his first successes in the 1937 season.
Kreek"s best throw of 15.90 m (52 ft 13⁄4 in) was enough to rank him sixth globally that season. Kreek threw an Estonian record mark of 16.16 m (53 ft 0 in) in Karlstad in 1938 – this made him the second best athlete in that world that year (his highest ever ranking).
In his career he would go on to break this mark twice more: in 1939 he threw 16.28 m (53 ft 43⁄4 in) before reaching a lifetime best distance of 16.40 m (53 ft 91⁄2 in) that same year. The third and final major international medal of his career was a silver medal at the 1939 International University Games (organised by the Union Internationale des Étudiants).
Kreek made his final international appearances for Estonia in 1940 and also matched his Estonian record with another throw of 16.40 m (53 ft 91⁄2 in) (placing him fourth among shot putters for the season).
He continued to compete nationally after that, winning his remaining national shot put titles, but his performance declined and he did not pass sixteen metres after 1940. Away from the track, Kreek worked for Estonia"s National Bureau of Statistics from 1936 to 1938, the Bank of Estonia from 1938 to 1940, then as a police officer in the mid-1940s. He left Estonia for Sweden as a refugee of the 1944 Soviet invasion of Estonia.
Kreek later emigrated to Canada in the early 1950s and settled down to family life there.
He died in Toronto in 1977.
