Rudi Cerne achieved his greatest triumph in 1984: the figure skater won silver at the European Championships in Budapest. The medal changed his life.
Today, Rudi Cerne is best known as the presenter of the ZDF program “Aktenzeichen XY”. But he started his career as a successful figure skater. In the 1980s he represented German figure skating together with Norbert Schramm.
The now 65-year-old crowned his sporting career with silver at the European Championships in Budapest in 1984. In the same year he came fifth at the World Championships in Ottawa – his best result at a World Championships.
Cerne: “Medal was a relief”
He still enjoys watching his silver routine: “This freestyle is archived on YouTube. I always like to take a look there. That was a very good performance back in January 1984 in Budapest“, says Cerne in an interview with sportschau.de.
The silver medal is one “Salvation” the North Rhine-Westphalian reveals. “I was 25 years old at the time and the oldest in the competition.” At that time, figure skaters still had to skate three disciplines: compulsory figures, short program and freestyle. At the European Championships in Budapest, things went perfectly for Cerne: in third place after the compulsory figures, he delivered a flawless short program – “Only the freestyle had one weak point: I only jumped the triple Rittberger twice,” reports Cerne, who only had to give way to Alexander Fadeyev from the then USSR. Incidentally, Norbert Schramm secured bronze.
It was a huge moment. Back then, I had decided to be on the podium at least once at an international championship.
Success came “at the last minute”
Success for Cerne came “at the last minute“, as the 65-year-old himself says. “I wanted to end my career with success.After finishing fourth at the Olympic Games in Sarajevo and fifth at the World Championships in Ottawa – his best result at a World Championships – Cerne finally ended his active career at the end of the 1984 season.
And he took off straight away – also thanks to his European Championship medal. “That changed my life. The course was suddenly set in a completely different direction” says Cerne. He became a professional at the famous ice show “Holiday on Ice”. After the success in Budapest, the then president of “Holiday on Ice” called him and asked him not to sign with anyone else too quickly. “At the end of the season in Canada, we basically met in the room for a consultation and checked out the first numbers about what could be paid for.”
…suddenly a journalist
Cerne was surprised: “Until then I was a flawless amateur and had maximum support from Sporthilfe. At the exhibition, medal winners received – I think – 400 Swiss francs. And then there was this lucrative contract with Holiday on Ice.”
He also led the shows as an emcee. “Through ‘Holiday on Ice’, completely new horizons developed for me. This also enabled me to get into journalism.” Cerne presented ARD sports programs from 1992. In 1996 he moved to ZDF, where, among other things, he moderated the “Aktuelle Sportstudio”. Since 2002 he has presented “File Number XY.”
Rarely on the ice rink these days
The 65-year-old can hardly be found on the ice rink these days. “I trained intensively there for 20 years. That’s enough. My family pushes me more often. I also have ice skates in the closet, they are new and almost untouched. A little would certainly work. But you notice that biological decay is unstoppable,” Cerne jokes.