Uta Pippig (born 7 September 1965) is a retired German

long-distance runner Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires endurance, stamina as well as mental strength. Within e ...

, and the first woman to officially win the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by several cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was i ...

three consecutive times (1994–1996). She also won the

Berlin Marathon The Berlin Marathon (german: Berlin-Marathon, ) is a marathon event held annually on the streets of Berlin, Germany on the last weekend of September. Held annually since 1974, the event includes multiple races over the marathon distance of , inclu ...

three times (1990, 1992 and 1995); the 1993

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon (currently branded TCS New York City Marathon after its headline sponsor) is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 finishe ...

; represented Germany at the Olympic Games in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, and won a bronze medal at the 1991 World 15km Road Race Championship. Her

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

best of 2:21:45 set in Boston in 1994, made her the third-fastest female marathon runner in history at that time.

Career

The daughter of two physicians, Pippig was born in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

and began running at the age of 13 while a citizen of the former

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. She finished 14th in the marathon at the 1987 World Championships. In university, she was a medical student at the

Humboldt University Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...

where, after passing her final exams, she chose to re-focus her attention exclusively on running professionally. She left East Germany in 1990 before

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

. She won the

Eurocross Eurocross is an annual international cross country running competition which takes place in Diekirch, Luxembourg in February. It is one of the IAAF permit meetings which serve as qualifying events for the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. ...

meeting in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

that year. Pippig's results on the track at 10,000 meters, include finishing sixth at the 1991 World Championships, seventh at the 1992 Olympic Games, and ninth at the 1993 World Championships. She also won a bronze medal at the 1991 World 15 km Road Race Championship. Pippig won the 1994 Boston Marathon in a lifetime best of 2:21:45, which at the time put her third on the world all-time list behind

Ingrid Kristiansen Ingrid Kristiansen (née Christensen on 21 March 1956) is a Norwegian former athlete. She was one of the best female long-distance runners during the 1980s. She is a former world record holder in the 5000 metres, 10,000 metres and the marathon ...

and

Joan Benoit Joan Benoit Samuelson (born May 16, 1957) is an American marathon runner who was the first women's Olympic Games marathon champion, winning the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. She held the fastest time for an American woma ...

. , the time still ranks her second on the German all-time list behind

Irina Mikitenko Irina Mikitenko, ''née'' Volynskaya (russian: Ирина Волынская (Микитенко); born 23 August 1972 in Bakanas, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union), is a retired German long-distance runner who competed in marathons. She won the Berlin ...

. Pippig won the 1996 Boston Marathon in the midst of

ischemic colitis Ischemic colitis (also spelled ischaemic colitis) is a medical condition in which inflammation and injury of the large intestine result from inadequate blood supply. Although uncommon in the general population, ischemic colitis occurs with greater ...

. This was incorrectly attributed to menstruation..

Eileen McNamara Eileen McNamara (born May 30, 1952) is an American journalist. She is the author of ''Eunice, The Kennedy Who Changed the World,'' to be published by Simon and Schuster, on April 3, 2018. She is chair of the Journalism Program at Brandeis Unive ...

's. At the 1996 Olympic Games, she dropped out of the marathon after 22 miles, having led earlier in the race. In 1998, an out-of-competition drug test found Pippig had an elevated ratio of

testosterone Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondar ...

epitestosterone Epitestosterone, or isotestosterone, also known as 17α-testosterone or as androst-4-en-17α-ol-3-one, is an endogenous steroid and an epimer of the androgen sex hormone testosterone. It is a weak competitive antagonist of the androgen recepto ...

, and the German Athletics Federation attempted to ban her for two years. Pippig contested the finding on the grounds that her testosterone levels were normal, and that the elevated ratio was due to a low level of epitestosterone from a long battle with chronic bowel disease and other factors. This claim was supported by a variety of independent medical experts, and a German arbitration court dismissed the case. In 2004, Pippig founded Take the Magic Step to provide health information and charitable support to individuals and to organizations that promote wellness and education. In 2005, she was named to the board of advisors of the MIT Agelab. In 2008, Pippig and Take The Magic Step business consultant Michael Reger created the Take The Magic Step Foundation to provide financial and logistical support to organizations that promote education, fitness, and health. The foundation's mission is to improve the lives of underprivileged children through organizations already established to help others. The foundation supports organizations such as SOS Outreach in Colorado, the Louisa May Alcott Orchard House in Massachusetts, and the Kinderhilfe e.V. charity in Pippig's hometown of Petertargen, Germany. In 2012 Pippig began her international speaking series, Running To Freedom. The series explores the value of freedom to individuals and society, and includes Pippig's own history of her journey to freedom. In 2016 Pippig began writing a column for the German newspaper ''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

'', and then for the German running magazine ''Laufzeit & Condition''. In 2017, Pippig became the running expert and spokesperson for the Berlin Marathon.

Achievements

Personal bests

*5000 metres - 15:04.87 (1991) *10,000 metres - 31:21.36 (1992) *Half-marathon - 67:58 (1995) *Marathon - 2:21:45 (1994)

Notes

References

External links

Official Website of Uta Pippig

*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pippig, Uta 1965 births Living people East German female long-distance runners East German female marathon runners German female marathon runners German female long-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Germany Athletes from Leipzig Boston Marathon female winners New York City Marathon female winners World Athletics Championships athletes for East Germany World Athletics Championships athletes for Germany Recipients of the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races Best Marathon Runner Award