August 3 Birthdays

1950
Waldemar Cierpinski, East Germany, long-distance runner. Cierpinski moved up from the 3,000m steeplechase to the marathon in 1974, and in the 1976 (Montreal) Olympic marathon he took the gold medal, running a career-best and Olympic record of 2:09:55. Four years later Cierpinski repeated, winning the 1980 (Moscow) Olympic marathon in a time of 2:11:03. Cierpinski was also a bronze medalist at the 1983 (Helsinki) World Championships marathon (2:10:37).