Markus Ryffel

Markus Ryffel
	;
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing Switzerland
Olympic Games
European Championships

Markus Ryffel (born 5 February 1955 in Bern) is a former long-distance runner from Switzerland who won the silver medal in the 5000 metres at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Biography

He set the Swiss record at 13:07.54 min.^[1] He also won a silver medal at the 1978 European Championships in Athletics, sharing it with the Soviet Union's Alexander Fedotkin; they both lost just one-tenth of a second to Italy's Venanzio Ortis.^[2] Between these two major championships medals, Ryffel had a rather varying success as a 5,000-metre runner. In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, he placed fifth in that distance, losing to the winner, Ethiopia's Miruts Yifter, by 2.1 seconds.^[3] He ran significantly worse in the 1982 European Athletics Championships in Athens and in the 1983 World Athletics Championships in Helsinki, Finland, placing only tenth and twelfth, respectively.^[4]^[5] Ryffel's final few years as a competitive runner, after the Los Angeles Olympics, were also rather undistinguished. He placed third in a time of slightly over 14 minutes at 5,000 metres in the European Athletics Cup's B final in Budapest in 1985. In the 1986 European Athletics Championships, he dropped out of the 5,000-metre final. In his last major international championships, the 1987 World Athletics Championships, he placed well outside the top ten runners at 10,000 metres and was eliminated in the 5,000-metre qualifying heats.^[6]

Personal Bests

1500m: 3:38.60 Mile: 3:58.05 2000m: 4:59.54 3000m: 7:41.00 5000m: 13:07.54 10000m: 27:54.29^[7]

References

^ "The Great Olympic Book 4" / Suuri Olympiateos 4, published in Finland in 1984
^ "European Athletics Championships 1978" / Yleisurheilun EM-kisat 1978, written by the "Runner" / Juoksija magazine's journalists and published in Finland in 1978
^ "The Moscow Olympic Book" / Moskovan Olympiakirja, written by the "Runner" / Juoksija magazine's journalists and published in Finland in 1980
^ "The Great European Championships Book" / Suuri EM-kirja, published in Finland in 1990
^ "The World Athletics Championships 1983" / Yleisurheilun MM-kisat 1983, written by the "Runner" / Juoksija magazine's journalists and published in Finland in 1983
^ "The World Athletics Championships 1987" / Yleisurheilun MM-kisat 1987
^ "Profile of Markus RYFFEL | All-Athletics.com". Archived from the original on 2014-02-01.