{{short description|German distance runner}} {{BLP sources|date=May 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Infobox sportsperson | image =ThomasWessinghage.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Wessinghage in 1981 | nationality = | sport = [[Track and field]] |disability = |disability_class = | event = | club = | coach = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1952|2|22|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Hagen]], [[North Rhine-Westphalia]], West Germany | death_date = | death_place = | retired= | height = | weight = | pb = | medaltemplates = {{MedalCountry|{{FRG}}}} {{MedalCompetition|[[European Athletics Championships|European Championships]]}} {{MedalGold|[[1982 European Athletics Championships|1982 Athens]]|[[1982 European Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres|5000 m]]}} {{MedalBronze|[[1974 European Athletics Championships|1974 Rome]]|[[1974 European Athletics Championships – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m]]}} {{MedalCompetition|[[European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]]}} {{MedalGold|[[1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships|1972 Grenoble]]|[[1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 4 × 720 metres relay|4×720 m]]}} {{MedalGold|[[1973 European Athletics Indoor Championships|1973 Rotterdam]]|[[1973 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 4 × 680 metres relay|4×680 m]]}} {{MedalGold|[[1975 European Athletics Indoor Championships|1975 Katowice]]|[[1975 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m]]}} {{MedalGold|[[1980 European Athletics Indoor Championships|1980 Sindelfingen]]|[[1980 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m]]}} {{MedalGold|[[1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships|1981 Grenoble]]|[[1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m]]}} {{MedalSilver|[[1974 European Athletics Indoor Championships|1974 Gothenburg]]|[[1974 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m]]}} {{MedalSilver|[[1976 European Athletics Indoor Championships|1976 Munich]]|[[1976 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m]]}} {{MedalSilver|[[1978 European Athletics Indoor Championships|1978 Milan]]|[[1978 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m]]}} {{MedalSilver|[[1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships|1979 Vienna]]|[[1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|1500 m]]}} {{MedalCompetition|[[Summer Universiade]]}} {{MedalGold|[[1975 Summer Universiade|1975 Rome]]|[[Athletics at the 1975 Summer Universiade|1500 m]]}} }} '''Thomas Wessinghage''' (born 22 February 1952) is a German former middle- and long-distance runner who won the [[1982 European Championships in Athletics|1982 European Championships]]' final over [[5000 metres]] beating the British world-record holder [[David Moorcroft]]. As he was already 30 years old at the time, and had been an international-level runner for a decade, this victory was a long-awaited one for him. He was in top form, having set a European record at 2000 metres shortly before the Championships, and because he was the fastest 1500-metre runner in the final, having run that distance in 3 minutes 31.6 seconds in 1980. Shortly after he started his final sprint with over 250 metres to go, Wessinghage moved into a decisive lead, stretching it into five metres by 4800 metres and almost doubling it by 4900 metres.
In 1980, he set a German record of 3:31.58 min over [[1500 metres]] which still has not been broken. In the same race [[Steve Ovett]] from the UK set a world record of 3:31.36 min. He was married to former Olympian [[Ellen Tittel]]. Wessinghage missed a great chance of winning an Olympic medal that year because West Germany joined the United States-led boycott. He was unlucky also in the other Olympic years of his competitive career: he was eliminated in the 1500-metre heats in the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, and he was injured in a race before the 1984 Olympics.
In the [[1983 World Championships in Athletics|1983 inaugural World Athletics Championships]], he was among the favourites to win the 5000-metre title, but for some reason he could not accelerate enough when it mattered the most - during the final lap - despite running at a steady rhythm earlier in the race. Accordingly, he dropped from third to sixth during the last lap, and lost to the winner, Ireland's [[Eamonn Coghlan]], by almost four seconds.
His last major competitive race was in the 5000-metre qualifying heats of the [[1986 European Athletics Championships]] in [[Stuttgart]]. In that race, he failed to advance to the final.
==International competitions== {| {{AchievementTable|Event=yes}} |- !colspan="6"|Representing {{FRG}} |- |1970 |[[1970 European Athletics Junior Championships|European Junior Championships]] |[[Paris, France]] |8th |1500 m |3:57.68 |- |rowspan=2|1972 |[[1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Grenoble]], France |bgcolor=gold|1st |4 × 720 m relay |6:26.4 |- |[[Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]] |[[Munich]], West Germany |21st (sf) |1500 m |[[Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Men's 1500 metres|3:43.4]] |- |rowspan=2|1973 |[[1973 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Rotterdam]], Netherlands |bgcolor=gold|1st |4 × 720 m relay |6:21.58 |- |[[Athletics at the 1973 Summer Universiade|Universiade]] |[[Moscow]], Soviet Union |3rd (h) |1500 m |[[Athletics at the 1973 Summer Universiade – Men's 1500 metres|3:44.6]]<sup>1</sup> |- |rowspan=2|1974 |[[1974 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Gothenburg]], Sweden |bgcolor="silver" | 2nd |1500 m |[[1974 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:42.02]] |- |[[1974 European Athletics Championships|European Championships]] |[[Rome]], Italy |bgcolor="cc9966" | 3rd |1500 m |[[1974 European Athletics Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:41.1]] |- |rowspan=2|1975 |[[1975 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Katowice]], Poland |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |1500 m |[[1975 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:44.6]] |- |[[Athletics at the 1975 Summer Universiade|Universiade]] |Rome, Italy |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |1500 m |[[Athletics at the 1975 Summer Universiade – Men's 1500 metres|3:39.73]] |- |1976 |[[1976 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Munich]], West Germany |bgcolor="silver" | 2nd |1500 m |[[1976 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:45.3]] |- |1977 |[[1977 IAAF World Cup|World Cup]] |[[Düsseldorf]], West Germany |bgcolor="silver" | 2nd |1500 m |[[1977 IAAF World Cup – Results#1500 m|3:35.98]] |- |rowspan=2|1978 |[[1978 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Milan]], Italy |bgcolor="silver" | 2nd |1500 m |[[1978 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:38.23]] |- |[[1978 European Athletics Championships|European Championships]] |[[Prague]], Czechoslovakia |4th |1500 m |[[1978 European Athletics Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:37.19]] |- |rowspan=2|1979 |[[1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Vienna]], Austria |bgcolor="silver" | 2nd |1500 m |[[1979 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:42.2]] |- |[[1979 IAAF World Cup|World Cup]] |[[Montreal]], Canada |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |1500 m |[[1979 IAAF World Cup – Results#1500 m|3:46.00]]<sup>2</sup> |- |1980 |[[1980 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Sindelfingen]], West Germany |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |1500 m |[[1980 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:37.54]] |- |1981 |[[1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |Grenoble, France |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |1500 m |[[1981 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:42.64]] |- |rowspan=2|1982 |[[1982 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |Milan, Italy |4th |1500 m |[[1982 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:39.79]] |- |[[1982 European Athletics Championships|European Championships]] |[[Athens]], Greece |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |5000 m |[[1982 European Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres|13:28.90]] |- |rowspan=2|1983 |[[1983 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Budapest]], Hungary |bgcolor="gold" | 1st |1500 m |[[1983 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:39.82]] |- |[[1983 World Championships in Athletics|World Championships]] |[[Helsinki]], Finland |6th |5000 m |[[1983 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 5000 metres|13:32.46]] |- |1984 |[[1984 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |Gothenburg, Sweden |bgcolor="cc9966" | 3rd |1500 m |[[1984 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 1500 metres|3:41.75]] |- |1985 |[[1985 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Piraeus]], Greece |bgcolor="silver" | 2nd |3000 m |[[1985 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 3000 metres|8:10.88]] |- |rowspan=2|1986 |[[1986 European Athletics Indoor Championships|European Indoor Championships]] |[[Madrid]], Spain |5th |3000 m |[[1986 European Athletics Indoor Championships – Men's 3000 metres|8:00.76]] |- |[[1986 European Athletics Championships|European Championships]] |[[Stuttgart]], West Germany |17th (h) |5000 m |[[1986 European Athletics Championships – Men's 5000 metres|13:33.98]] |} <sup>1</sup>Did not finish in the final<br> <sup>2</sup>Representing Europe
==External links== *{{sports links}}
{{Footer IAAF World Cup Champions 1500m Men}} {{Footer European Champions 5000 m Men}} {{Footer Universiade Champions 1500m Men}} {{Footer WBYP Mile Men}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wessinghage, Thomas}} [[Category:1952 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Sportspeople from Hagen]] [[Category:Athletes from Arnsberg (region)]] [[Category:German men middle-distance runners]] [[Category:German men long-distance runners]] [[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics]] [[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics]] [[Category:Olympic athletes for West Germany]] [[Category:European Athletics Championships medalists]] [[Category:World Athletics Championships athletes for West Germany]] [[Category:Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)]] [[Category:FISU World University Games gold medalists for West Germany]] [[Category:Medalists at the 1975 Summer Universiade]] [[Category:Competitors at the 1973 Summer Universiade]] [[Category:West German Athletics Championships winners]] [[Category:20th-century German sportsmen]]