Waldemar Cierpinski (born 3 August 1950) is a former East German athlete and two-time Olympic champion in the marathon.

He ran with the lead pack until American Frank Shorter broke free after the 25 km mark.

Cierpinski was implicated by East German track and field research files uncovered by Werner Franke at the Stasi headquarters in Leipzig in the late 1990s.

[4] Fourth-place finisher Don Kardong has also written that he believed Cierpinski was involved in the East German doping program.

[5] Shorter's allegations are very similar to those of Shirley Babashoff, who accused the East German women of drug cheating during the swimming events in the same Olympic Games, which was later substantiated by investigators in the PBS documentary "Secrets of the Dead: Doping for Gold".