Ulrike Bruns ( Klapezynski, born 17 November 1953) is a retired

East German 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 ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

who competed mainly in the 1500 metres and 3000 metres.

Private life

Klapezynski was born in 1953 in Cottbus. She married her trainer, Jürgen Bruns (1942–2018), in 1979 and they had two children. After the German reunification, they operated a sports store in Potsdam.

Athletics career

She competed for East Germany in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

held in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Quebec, Canada in the

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 ...

where she won the bronze medal. She was third in 10,000 metres run at the 1986 European Championships. She took the same place at 1987 World Championships. Bruns also won 800 m at the

1978 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1978 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at Palasport di San Siro in Milan, Italy, between 11–12 March 1978. It was the first time the championships were held in Italy. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Participating n ...

. ;Olympic and World middle-distance bronzes She received first public attention while still competing under her maiden name of Klapezynski when performing at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. That year, she set her personal bests of 1:57.06min for the 800 m and 3:59.9min for the 1500 m, but opted to confine only to the 1500 m in Montreal eventually winning the bronze medal behind the winner, Tatyana Kazankina (USSR). Klapezynski again finished behind Kazankina when winning 1500 m silver at the inaugural World Cup in

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next year. She then won a title by her own, finishing first over 800 m at the 1978 European Indoor Championships in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. Later that year, Bruns set the world record at 1000 m on 18 August at Berlin, clocking 2:31.95min, but lost that record only two days later. She was considerably disappointed after that to finish 7th at both 800 m and 1500 m at 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, ...

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. It seemed that her career stagnated after 1500 m fifth place finishes at the

1980 Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

and 1982 European Championships in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, but Bruns turned to longer distances in the early 1980s, and although she didn't compete at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

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, due to the Eastern Bloc boycott, she recorded her lifetime best at 3000 m that year, clocking 8:36.38min in July. After the Olympics, she visited Zurich to beat star-studded field over 3000 m. She finished third at the 1985 European Cup and then won the gold over 3000 m at the World Cup in

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. During 1985, she lowered her one-mile PB to 4:21.59min at the Weltklasse meet, finishing fourth behind

Mary Decker Mary Teresa Slaney (formerly Tabb, née Decker, born August 4, 1958) is a retired American middle-distance runner. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships, and was the world re ...

's world record of 4:16.70min. Bruns extended her medal haul in 1986, contesting new major distance for women, 10000 m, at the

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and again won the bronze medal in 31:19.76min, losing only to long-distance legends,

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 ...

(Norway) and

Olga Bondarenko Olga Petrovna Bondarenko (née Krentser, russian: О́льга Петро́вна Бондаре́нко-Кренцер;European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

finals, but did not win any until 1987 in Prague where she was victorious at 3000 m. She confirmed her smooth form later that summer at the second World Championships in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, taking the bronze in the 3000 m final and winning her final international medal. She remains one of only few women athletes capable of winning medals at 800 m as well at 10,000 m.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruns, Ulrike 1953 births Living people Sportspeople from Cottbus People from Bezirk Cottbus East German female middle-distance runners Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of East Germany World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for East Germany Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver