Cierpinski was born in the former East German village of Neuattersleben in 1950 (he is now 57 years old).
From the age of 7 years, Cierpinski covered 6km per day on foot to go to and from school, as there were no school buses at the time. So, from a very early age W.C. built up a good aerobic base, somewhat like the Kenyans!
In his elementary school years W.C. (Waldemar Cierpinski) played several school sports as was the custom in East Germany at the time. These sports included gymnastics, soccer and boxing. But W.C.`s earliest sporting love was fishing! W.C. had a girlfriend (when he was 12-13 years old) who loved to run, and to please her, he also started to run. Two afternoons a week he practiced track and field in the organized sports system of the schools.
W.C. won the school and district cross country races at age 13 and was detected by experts who directed him to a special school/sports athletics program where sports were catered for at a higher level, with studies. At that time, in the sports schools, all sports disciplines were practiced, and perhaps for that reason, W.C. developed into a rather stocky ``athletic`` build.
At age 15, W.C. clocked the fastest time ever in the 7,5km cross country event, recording a time of 23`05`` (3`05`` km pace). From that point on, W.C. was recognized and was asked to spend his vacations in training camps organized at the time in East Germany. Three years later W.C. won the Spartakiades Games in the 3000 steeplechase.
Children who displayed promise in sports (over 600 000 children were detected as having promise!) underwent a series of tests to determine their intrinsic qualities and to guide them into specific sports and events based on the tests.
W.C. quickly discovered that his chances in the 3000 steeple wold be limited. In 1972 he was the best E.German over the distance (8:35) but missed qualifying for Munich by 2 seconds. But his federation made him continue in the event until 1974. He had no choice but to obey the Federation.
The reason he had to continue is that he was sponsored by the state of E.Germany in that event, and as long as he continued to be the best E.German in the event, he was not allowed to change, even though W.C. wanted to move up to the marathon (he had been inspired by Bikila at age 14, when watching the Rome Marathon in 1964 on a miniscule black and white t.v.).
Finally, in 1974, he found himself third on the E.German ranking list, and he was allowed to move to the marathon.
Everything was sponsored by the State at the time, as there were no individual sponsors.
When W.C. entered the special ``sports high school`` he received a subvention of 100 german marks per month, of which he used 42 marks to pay for his board and lodging at the sports school, and the rest was saved. Later at the University of Leipzig, where W.C. trained to be a P.E. teacher, he received 190 marks per month.
W.C.`s first flirt with the marathon happened during a vacation in the Czech Republic (September 1973). He travelled to Kosice and took part in his first marathon. He stuck with the leaders to the 30km mark, before fading badly to finish 3rd in 2:20.28.
In 1975 at his second attempt at the distance, he returned to Kosice and this time, in a higher class race, finished 7th in 2:17.30. But this was just one year before his famous win in Montreal (1976) and he was still far away from clocking the necessary qualifying time to run in Montreal, the qualifying time established being 2:14.
16 weeks before Montreal (1976) W.C. won the Karl Marx event in 2:13.57. W.C. was happy and thought he had done enough to qualify for the Olympics, but as the East German selectors did not really know him at the time, they insisted he prove himself in another marathon! So, seven weeks later, W.C. was forced to run another marathon, just 9 weeks before the Olympic event. This time he won the Wittenberg marathon, and convinced the selectors to give him his entry ticket to the marathon in Montreal. His time in Wittenberg - 2:12.21.
W.C. training system was quite simple, and completely drug free, despite what some people now think.
The important thing is to train at the right pace, claims W.C. If W.C. runs 40km in training, all that does is to maintain his body aerobically, but it is not specific to the marathon. The secret in the W.C. method was to find the point where endurance and speed could meet. This is called specific pace. And for this, you can only work with distances of 10, 20 or 30 km.
When W.C. prepared for Montreal (1976) he trained for 25 hours per week. 15 hours were devoted to endurance, which consisted of warming up, recovery running and recuperation running. The 10 remaining hours (quality) were devoted to specific pace training for the marathon.
W.C. was lucky to be able to go to Montreal six weeks ahead of the race, and this helped him acclimate to the humidity and heat. He was exhausted in the beginning and felt very bad in the first weeks training in Montreal (1976). He had already ran two marathons during that year.
But one week before the Olympic race, W.C.`s form returned.
At the start of the race W.C. started slowly, but by the 15km mark there were just 10 athletes in the lead, running in single file. Behind him was Lasse Viren, and W.C. held so much respect for him, that he almost stumbled and fell when slowing down to let Viren get his drink. After the 25km it became a duel between W.C. and Shorter who kept trying to run away with spurts, but each time after some metres, W.C. would reel him back. Finally on a slight downhill at around the 35km mark, W.C. was able to get away from Shorter and maintain his lead to the finish, but then at the track, was forced to run an extra lap, because the lap counter said ``one lap to go.`` He achieved a time of 2:09.55 and the race in Montreal was his most difficult and memorable win of his career. Shorter was second in 2:10.46, with Lismont (Belgium) third in 2:11.13.
W.C. claims that East Germany was 10 years ahead of all other nations with regard to effective training methods. The method was scientific. Every 6 weeks, all federation runners, underwent a whole series of tests, and these helped the trainers build individual programs for each runner, which were tailor made to the individual.
At the time W.C. was running, nobody had run the marathon in 2:06, which represents 3 mins. per kilometre.
W.C.`s training was geared to run a time of 2:10, which represented 3:05 per kilometre. His upper limit for training would be 2:12 marathon which was 3:10 per kilometre. So he knew that his training would have to be within the 3:05-3:10 per km. speed.
For a quality session of 20km on the track, W.C. would alternate 10 times 1000m in 3:05, with 10 times 600m in 1`48`` all at the 20km per hour speed as the goal. He would run 1000, 600, 1000, 600....with a little recovery between each interval. At the end of the session, he would run a 4000 on the track in 12:00 mins. So that was a specific training session of 20km completed in 62`30``, with recoveries between intervals included.
Those training sessions were not rigid and sometimes the distances were shorter or longer, but the important thing was to respect the goal pace on the track!
Before Montreal the biggest mileage weeks were around 180km per week, and before Moscow (1980) W.C. went up to 200km per week, and before Los Angeles - 230km per week. Several times a year W.C. would train with East German groups at altitude in Bulgaria, Ethiopia and Mexico.
Blood tests were regularly taken to determine the lactate levels and the levels of hematocrites. Other tests included electrode effort tests. Every 6 weeks W.C. knew whether he was adapting to the training loads or not, and adjustments could be made. This rational way of monitoring athletes was way ahead of all other nations, and permitted athletes to get the best out of themselves in competitions. But the mental aspect was also important, relates W.C.
W.C. did not take part in 1984 (Los Angeles) because of the boycott by communist countries, and he states that he might have won as he had prepared better than ever before.
When both Germanies re united in 1990, that was the end of the organized sports system in East Germany. Now, in East Germany, there is no systematic detection of elite children, and as a consequence the standards are no longer as they were. In addition, since the communist regime ended, the capitalist system in East Germany has been hard on the people there, and unemployment pressently in East Germany hovers around 20-30%.
After his career finished (double Olympic champion) W.C. worked for the Federation as an administator, but found that this was not suitable. Since then he has returned to coaching, and also opened a sports store (Cierpinski Sports). W.C. trains athletes, including one of his sons who is the World Junior Duathlon champion.
German athletes are no longer performing in the marathon, as they prefer the shorter distances, which allows them to run more often and win money. But this is not good, because athletes who race to much for money do not improve, believes W.C.
When W.C. won money in his day, all the money he won went to the Federation, and he found that this was good, as it allowed him to concentrate on training without getting distracted or sidetracked by material concerns. It was a basic life, but all his needs were met, and those of his family too.
For Moscow, W.C. trained very hard, so hard in fact that he would sometimes run an extra 5000 on the track in 15`` after a specific training session of 35km (at marathon goal pace).
In Moscos, Nijboer and Gomez went off very hard, in the not conditions, and W.C. sat back. W.C. accelerated at 35km to catch up to the two front runners,and then ran the 5000 stretch (between 35km to 40km) in 14:45, compared to 15:00 for runner up Nijboer. In the last km, Nijboer once again almost caught up to W.C., but the W.C. managed to sprint the last 200m to win his second Olympic title in 2`11.03``
W.C. also claims that German athletes are scared of the Africans. During his era, each German town had 4-5 good marathon runners in the 2:12-2:15 range. Now the best German marathon man is only capable of running around 2:14. But W.C. was pleased with the success of the Euro. winner Ulrike Maisch.
These days (Waldmar Cierpinski is 57 years old) W.C. realizes that he has has run since the age of 14, and since that time (age 14) has covered more than 250.000 km. He still runs twice a week, and he also plays soccer twice a week. For his 60th birthday, W.C. plans to run a marathon in around 2:50, and for the above reasons, Cierpinski still looks remarkably fit and trim for his age, without any extra weight.
Waldemar Cierpinski. Best times:
1500: 3:45.22
5000: 13:35.60
10.000: 28:28
Marathon: 2:09.55