Sabine Busch

{{MedalTableTop|Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1986-0628-018, Sabine Busch.jpg|250px}} {{MedalSport | Women's athletics}} {{MedalCountry | {{GDR}} }} {{MedalCompetition|Olympic Games}} {{MedalBronze| 1988 Seoul|4×400 m}} {{MedalWorldChampionships}} {{MedalGold | 1983 Helsinki | 4×400 m}} {{MedalGold | 1987 Rome | 400 m hurdles}} {{MedalGold | 1987 Rome | 4×400 m}} {{MedalCompetition|European Championships}} {{MedalGold|1982 Athens|4×400 m}} {{MedalGold|1986 Stuttgart|4×400 m}} {{MedalSilver|1986 Stuttgart|400 m hurdles}} {{MedalBottom}} '''Sabine Busch''' (later '''Ascui'''; born 21 November 1962, in Erfurt) is a retired East German athlete, who specialised in the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles. In 1987, she became the World Champion at 400  m hurdles and the World Indoor Champion at 400  m.

==Biography== At the 1982 European Championships she finished fourth in the 400 m, before winning a gold medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay, together with teammates Kirsten Siemon, Dagmar Rubsam and Marita Koch. At the 1983 World Championships she finished fifth in her 400 m semifinal and was eliminated, but won another gold medal in the relay, with teammates Gesine Walther, Koch and Rübsam. She set her 400 m lifetime best of 49.24 in Erfurt in June 1984, but could not compete in the 1984 Olympics due to the Eastern Bloc Boycott.

Busch switched to the 400 m hurdles in 1985, with immediate success, winning the European Cup in Moscow in 54.13 secs, before breaking Margarita Ponomaryova's world record of 53.58, with 53.55 in Berlin in September.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20131029202738/http://athletix.org/?p=904 World Record Progression, 400 m. hurdles women]}} – The Athletics Site</ref> She ended the season by winning at the World Cup in Canberra in 54.44.

Busch began 1986 by winning the 400 m title at the European Indoor Championships for the second time, having also won the 1985 Event. At the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, she won a silver medal in the 400 m hurdles, losing to Marina Stepanova, who in the process broke Busch's world record with 53.32, Busch ran 53.60. She won a gold medal in the relay with Emmelmann (Siemon), Petra Muller and Koch.

In 1987, Busch won the 400 m title at the World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis. The highlight of her career came at the 1987 World Championships in Rome, where she won a clear victory in the 400 m hurdles in 53.62 secs, to become world champion. She won a second gold medal in the relay with Emmelmann, Neubauer (Rubsam) and Muller. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul she finished fourth in the final of the 400 m hurdles, being edged out of the bronze medal by her GDR teammate Ellen Fiedler (53.63 – 53.69). She did win a bronze medal in the relay alongside her teammates Neubauer, Emmelmann and Muller.

In 1991, Busch represented a United Germany at the World Championships in Tokyo, where she was eliminated in the semi-finals in 55.93 secs.

Busch's career best time at the 400 m hurdles was 53.24 seconds, achieved in August 1987 in Potsdam. As of 2024, this is still the German record.<ref name="top10">[https://www.leichtathletik.de/wettkaempfe/rekorde-erfolge Top 10 lists in German athletics] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090927180550/http://www.leichtathletik.de/image.php?AID=9315&VID=0 |date=27 September 2009 }} – Deutschen Leichtathletik-Verband</ref> Her personal best time in the 400 metres of 49.24 seconds, places her second on the German all-time list, only behind Marita Koch.<ref name="top10"/> On the world all-time lists, she ranks 16th at 400 m and 24th at 400 m hurdles.

Busch represented the sports club SC Turbine Erfurt and was coached by Eberhard König.

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *{{World Athletics}} *[http://www.erfurt.de/ef/de/erleben/sport/sportler/21801.shtml Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071108090400/http://www.erfurt.de/ef/de/erleben/sport/sportler/21801.shtml |date=8 November 2007 }}

{{s-start}} {{s-sports}} {{succession box|before={{flagicon|URS}} Margarita Ponomaryova|title=Women's 400 m Hurdles Best Year Performance|years=1985|after={{flagicon|URS}} Marina Stepanova}} {{succession box|before={{flagicon|URS}} Marina Stepanova|title=Women's 400 m Hurdles Best Year Performance|years=1987|after={{flagicon|AUS}} Debbie Flintoff-King}} {{s-end}} {{Footer World Champions 400 m hurdles Women}} {{Footer World Champions 4 x 400 m Women}} {{Footer World Indoor Champions 400m Women}} {{Footer European Champions 4 × 400 m Women}} {{Footer IAAF World Cup Champions 400m Hurdles Women}} {{Footer IAAF World Cup Champions 4 × 400 m Women}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Busch, Sabine}} Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:Sportspeople from Erfurt Category:Athletes from Thuringia Category:Sportspeople from Bezirk Erfurt Category:East German women hurdlers Category:East German women sprinters Category:Olympic athletes for East Germany Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Category:World Athletics Championships athletes for East Germany Category:World Athletics Championships athletes for Germany Category:Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Category:World Athletics Championships medalists Category:European Athletics Championships medalists Category:Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic bronze medalists in athletics Category:World record setters in the sport of athletics Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Category:World Athletics Indoor Championships winners Category:World Athletics Championships winners Category:East German Athletics Championships winners