 Cierpinski in 1976 | ||
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men'sathletics | ||
Representing East Germany | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
 | 1976 Montreal | Marathon |
| 1980 Moscow | Marathon |
| World Championships | ||
 | 1983 Helsinki | Marathon |
Waldemar Cierpinski (born 3 August 1950) is a formerEast German athlete and two-time Olympic champion in themarathon.
Cierpinski was born inNeugattersleben,East Germany to Polish parents who had moved to Germany in 1945. He was originally a successful steeplechase runner but decided to switch to the marathon in 1974.
He was virtually unknown when he entered the1976 Olympic marathon. He ran with the lead pack until AmericanFrank Shorter broke free after the 25 km mark. Cierpinski chased Shorter down then took the lead, winning the race by 51 seconds. His victory was so unexpected that inthe Olympic football final that evening, goalkeeperJürgen Croy, invoked Cierpinski, a "living example of mediocrity", to inspire East Germany to a 3–1 victory over fancied Poland.[1]
Cierpinski finished in fourth place at the 1978 European Championships. In the1980 Summer Olympics, he ran wisely and did not match the suicidal pace the leaders had set. He caught up to the leaders at the 36 km mark and soon led by a healthy margin. AlthoughGerard Nijboer from the Netherlands narrowed the gap in the last kilometre, Cierpinski sprinted the last 200 m to win his second consecutive Olympic gold medal and duplicate the feat of legendary EthiopianAbebe Bikila of winning two straight Olympic marathons.
Cierpinski finished third in the marathon in the1983 World Championships in Athletics. He was denied a chance of an unprecedented third Olympic marathon win by theEastern Bloc boycott of the1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, which wastit for tat for the United States-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He left competition the same year and started a coaching career.
InTrack & Field News World Rankings, Cierpinski was ranked first in the marathon in 1976 and 1980 and eighth in 1978 and 1983.
Cierpinski is a member of theGerman Olympic Committee. Since 2007, Cierpinski has been an honorary member of the SG WiP Goettingen 06.[2] He lives inHalle an der Saale.
It is now well known thatEast Germany operated a state-sponsored system of providingperformance-enhancing drugs to as many as 10,000 athletes from about 1968 to 1988. Cierpinski was implicated by East German track and field research files uncovered byWerner Franke at theStasi headquarters inLeipzig in the late 1990s.[3]
As a result, 1976 silver medallistFrank Shorter has advocated the belief that Cierpinski cheated and has supported official review of past performances, i.e. considering stripping medals from athletes who are found later on to have cheated, as a deterrent to drug-cheats.[4] Fourth-place finisherDon Kardong has also written that he believed Cierpinski was involved in theEast German doping program.[5] Shorter's allegations are very similar to those ofShirley Babashoff, who accused the East German women of drug cheating during the swimming events in the same Olympic Games, which was later substantiated by investigators in thePBS documentary "Secrets of the Dead: Doping for Gold".
Media related toWaldemar Cierpinski at Wikimedia Commons| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by | East German Sportsman of the Year 1976 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | East German Sportsman of the Year 1980 | Succeeded by |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by | Men's Fastest Marathon Race 1976 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
