Thomas Wessinghage

Thomas Wessinghage (born 22 February 1952) is a German former middle- and long-distance runner who won the 1982 European Championships' final over 5000 metres beating the British world-record holder David Moorcroft. As he was already 30 years old at the time, and had been an international-level runner for a decade, this victory was a long-awaited one for him. He was in top form, having set a European record at 2000 metres shortly before the Championships, and because he was the fastest 1500-metre runner in the final, having run that distance in 3 minutes 31.6 seconds in 1980. Shortly after he started his final sprint with over 250 metres to go, Wessinghage moved into a decisive lead, stretching it into five metres by 4800 metres and almost doubling it by 4900 metres. In 1980, he set a German record of 3:31.58 min over 1500 metres which stood for 45 years. In the same race Steve Ovett from the UK set a world record of 3:31.36 min. He was married to former Olympian Ellen Tittel. Wessinghage missed a great chance of winning an Olympic medal that year because West Germany joined the United States-led boycott. He was unlucky also in the other Olympic years of his competitive career: he was eliminated in the 1500-metre heats in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, and he was injured in a race before the 1984 Olympics. In the 1983 inaugural World Athletics Championships, he was among the favourites to win the 5000-metre title, but for some reason he could not accelerate enough when it mattered the most - during the final lap - despite running at a steady rhythm earlier in the race. Accordingly, he dropped from third to sixth during the last lap, and lost to the winner, Ireland's Eamonn Coghlan, by almost four seconds....