Rudi Cerne was born in Herne in 1958 and studied sports and biology after graduating from high school. In the 1980s he was one of the most successful figure skaters in the world. The multiple German champion crowned his career in 1984 by winning the silver medal at the European Championships in Budapest. After finishing 4th at the Olympic Games in Sarajevo and 5th at the World Championships in Ottawa, an engagement with “Holiday on Ice” followed.
For the managers of the world’s biggest ice revue, Rudi Cerne was the drawing card throughout Europe from 1984-88. In addition, his likeable and convincing manner was quickly discovered on the microphone as well. From then on, Cerne led the audience through the gala evenings in Germany’s largest halls – on ice skates. Then it went blow by blow. Adi Furler, an ARD reporter legend, took Rudi Cerne under his wing and encouraged him to become a TV journalist. Reports for “Sport im Westen” and “Aktuelle Stunde” on WDR followed. His first teachers were Heribert Fassbender and Ernst Huberty. In 1990, he succeeded Hans Joachim Rauschenbach as figure skating reporter at Hessischer Rundfunk.
Rudi Cerne Sports Expert, Presenter & Talkmaster
His convincing manner was so well received that assignments as a presenter of various programmes followed, such as ARD Sport Extra and Sportschau. In 1995 the call from Cologne came again. Rudi Cerne presented sport in the ARD morning show. This made him known to an audience of millions.
In 1996, ZDF offered him a job in the sports department in Mainz, where he became one of the station’s most influential faces as a live reporter, editor and presenter. Together with Norbert König, he successfully created the ZDF sports reportage and was also on duty for ZDF Sport Extra at all the major sporting events such as the Olympic Games, the European and World Football Championships and other highlights.
Until 2006 Rudi Cerne hosted “Das aktuelle Sportstudio” 75 times alongside Wolf-Dieter Poschmann, Michael Steinbrecher and Johannes B. Kerner; alongside “Wetten dass?” this was certainly one of ZDF’s flagship programmes. And even bigger tasks followed. Since the Wanne-Eickel native is always in the top group of the most popular German sports presenters and continuously draws an audience of millions in front of the screen, he received an offer during the “Tour de France” to take over “Aktenzeichen XY….ungelöst”. A joke, as he initially believed. But the people in charge of the programme, above all Eduard Zimmermann, were serious and convinced of their sports presenter. Cerne agreed and has been the man for sports and murder ever since.
Since 2002, he has been a very successful presenter of this extremely important investigative programme for ZDF and the police, where he always places more importance on the number of cases solved than on the viewing figures. In the process, he raised his own profile above all and proved that it is quite possible to successfully revive a programme like “Aktenzeichen XY…..ungelöst” alongside his work in the sports editorial department of ZDF.
Rudi Cerne gives your event his very personal touch. He is a moderation professional and impresses not only in front of the camera, but also as an event moderator of gala events such as the “Sportsman of the Year Gala”, sports or business talks, congresses, conferences and symposia, press conferences, product presentations as well as trade fair appearances.
Like no other, Rudi Cerne has succeeded in displaying the seriousness and earnestness for a programme like “Aktenzeichen XY…..ungelöst” despite his extensive stints in the field of sport, which has meanwhile made him one of the most popular presenters and most sought-after testimonials off camera as well.