Rüdiger Stenzel (born 16 April 1968, in

Gelsenkirchen Gelsenkirchen (, , ; ) is the List of cities in Germany by population, 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, Emscher River (a tribu ...

) 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 thus qualifying for the Olympic

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run 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 Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

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 A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

in Helsinki where Cacho won gold. Later that year, however, Stenzel won the silver medal at the IAAF World Cup behind Noureddine Morceli. Stenzel finished tenth at the

1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 5th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North A ...

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 nu ...

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

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

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 ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

. 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 Moorc ...

, Harald Hudak, Jens-Peter Herold and

Dieter Baumann Dieter Baumann (, ; born 9 February 1965) is a German former athlete and 5000 m Olympic champion 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 test ...

.Microsoft Word - Ewige DLV-Bestenliste.doc
He competed for the sports club TV Wattenscheid during his active career.

References

External links

* 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Gelsenkirchen Athletes from Münster (region) 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 for Germany 20th-century German sportsmen {{Germany-middledistance-athletics-bio-stub