Alberto Salazar

Alberto Salazar ( born August 7, 1958 in Cuba ) is a former American long-distance runner, who celebrated his greatest successes in the early 1980s.

He won three times in a row at the New York City Marathon (1980 to 1982) and exhibited at the U.S. track records over 5000m ( 13:11.93, July 6, 1982 in Oslo) and 10,000 m ( 27:25.61, 26 June 1982 in Oslo) on. In 1982 he finished second in 1984 and fourth at the World Cross Country Championships.

In the New York City Marathon 1981 Salazar ran in 2:08:13 supposedly a new world record. However, it was noted in the final measurement, the distance around 148 meters was too short, which is about a half minute run time.

Spectacular was his victory in the Boston Marathon in 1982, when he won the sprint with two seconds ahead of Dick Beardsley and collapsed dehydrated in the target. With its that time of 2:08:52, he is still the third fastest American.

He was considered a favorite for the marathon at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, but only landed a disappointing 15th place.

Salazar was not a natural talent, but made it through extreme exercise diligence that went to total expenditure, up for it. However, his health suffered. In the Falmouth Road Race in 1977 he expended so much that he was placed with a heat stroke in a bathtub full of ice and a priest received the last sacraments.

From the mid- 80s he made ​​to create health problems, his immune system collapsed, and he was at times running completely. 1994, there was an impressive comeback for him when he was in South Africa the Comrades Marathon, the world's largest ultra-marathon over almost 90 km, won.

Alberto Salazar is currently working as a trainer for Nike.