Rüdiger Stenzel (born 16 April 1968, in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; wep, Gelsenkiärken) is the 25th most populous city of Germany and the 11th most populous in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia with 262,528 (2016) inhabitants. On the Emscher River (a tributary of the Rhine), it lies ...

) is a former German middle distance runner who participated in several international championships in the 1990s. He came second in the 1992 German championships behind

Jens-Peter Herold Jens-Peter Herold (born 2 June 1965 in Neuruppin) is a retired German middle-distance runner who participated in several international championships in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the 1987 World Championships he came sixth over 1500 me ...

thus qualifying for the Olympic

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

competition where he went out before the final. He then got his first international finish with a tenth place at the 1993 World Championships. In a race in 1994 he defeated the Olympic champion

Fermín Cacho Fermín Cacho Ruiz (born 16 February 1969) is a Spanish track and field athlete, winner of the gold medal in the 1500m at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the silver medal in the 1500m at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Born in � ...

but finished seventh in the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in Helsinki where Cacho won gold. Later that year, however, Stenzel won the silver medal at the

IAAF World Cup The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The event was proposed by IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo and was first held in 1977 as t ...

behind

Noureddine Morceli Noureddine Morceli ( ar, نور الدين مرسلي, ''Nūr ud-Dīn Mursilī''; born February 28, 1970) is a retired Algerian middle-distance runner. He was the winner of the 1500 metres at the 1996 Summer Olympics and won three straight gold me ...

. Stenzel finished tenth at the

1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

and won a silver medal over 1500 m at the

1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France from March 7 to March 9, 1997. It was the first athletic championships to introduce women's pole vault. There were a total numb ...

. One of his last appearances was at the 1999 World Championships in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

where he went out in the semi-finals. Stenzel won several German titles and set a personal best of 3:33.60 minutes in 1997 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. This result places him fifth on the German all-time performers list, behind

Thomas Wessinghage Thomas Wessinghage (born 22 February 1952 in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia) 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 Moorcro ...

Harald Hudak Harald Hudak (born 28 January 1957 in Vaihingen an der Enz) is a retired (West) German middle-distance runner who specialized in 1500 metres. He was one of the runners that set a world record of 14:38.8 minutes in the 4x1500 metres relay in 1977, ...

and

Dieter Baumann Dieter Baumann (, ; born 9 February 1965) is a former German athlete and winner of the 5000 m at the 1992 Summer Olympics. He also won the silver medal in the same event (5000 m) at the 1988 Summer Olympics. In 1999 Baumann tested positive for na ...

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He competed for the sports club

TV Wattenscheid TV Wattenscheid 01 Leichtathletik is a German sports club focused on athletics. Founded in 1971 in Wattenscheid, Bochum in the Western part of Germany, the club's history is linked to that of an older club, ''Turnverein Wattenscheid 01'', a gymnas ...

during his active career.

References

External links

* 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Gelsenkirchen German male middle-distance runners German national athletics champions Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Germany {{Germany-middledistance-athletics-bio-stub