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 Moorcroft.
Because he was already thirty at the time, and had been an international-level runner for a decade, this victory was a long-awaited one for him. He admitted that he decided to run the 5,000 metres instead of the 1,500 metres, because he lost to Ovett and Coe so often in the shorter distance. The fairly slow pace of the 1982 European Athletics Championships 5,000-metre final favoured Wessinghage, because he was in top form – having set a European record at 2,000 metres shortly before the Championships – and because he was the fastest 1,500-metre runner in the final, having run that distance in 3 minutes 31.6 seconds in 1980.
He won the German championship title 22 times. The European Championship over 5000 meters, which he won in 1982, was his greatest success. In 1979, he won the World Cup over 1500 meters in Montreal, in 1975 the European Cup over 1500 meters in Nice, and in 1983 the 5000 meters in London. He set German and European records, of which the German records over 1500 and 2000 meters (4:52.20 min) still stand.
In his marathon debut in Berlin in 1989, Wessinghage ran a time of 2:26 h.
Thomas Wessinghage was German champion 22 times, particularly in the 1500 meters. His greatest success, however, was in the 5000 meters. He won gold in this event at the 1982 European Championships in Athens. Wessinghage also competed at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich and the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.
All achievements at a glance:
- 22-time German Champion
- 1972: Olympic Participant
- 1975: European Indoor Champion (1500 m)
- 1976: Olympic Participant
- 1977: World Record with the German 4×1500-meter relay team (Wessinghage, Harald Hudak, Michael Lederer, and Karl Fleschen), valid until September 4, 2009
- 1979: World Cup Champion (1500 m)
- 1980: European Indoor Champion (1500 m)
- 1981: European Indoor Champion (1500 m)
- 1982: European Indoor Champion (1500 m)
- 1982: European Champion (5000 m)
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wessinghage