Sabine BUSCH

Sabine Busch developed into a world-class 400m runner in the early part of her career. However, she was somewhat overshadowed on the domestic scene in this event, notably by Marita Koch, which no doubt influenced Sabine to switch to the 400m hurdles, where she met with instantaneous success. At the 1982 European Championships in Athens, the 19 year-old Busch just failed to win a medal when she finished fourth in the 400m final won by Koch. Three days later, on 11 September, Busch and Koch were members of the East German 4 x 400m relay team which won the gold medal in a new world record of 3min 19.04sec. At the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki, Sabine was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 400m, but again won a gold medal in the 4 x 400m relay.   Busch set her career best time for 400m of 49.24sec when finishing second to Koch at the 1984 East German national championships, but disappointingly, was denied the opportunity of Olympic competition that year due to the East German boycott. The turning point in Sabine's career occurred on 12 June 1985, when she debuted in the 400m hurdles at Jena, setting a new national record of 53.83sec, which placed her third on the all-time world list. Just over three months later, on 22 September, she broke the world record in East Berlin, setting a new time of 53.55sec. Despite finishing second to Debbie Flintoff (Australia) at Oslo on 5 July 1986 (see photo above), Busch was the favourite to win the 400m hurdles title at the European Championships in Stuttgart later that year. However, she was upstaged by Marina Stepanova (Soviet Union), who not only relegated Sabine to second place, but also broke her world record. Busch got some recompense by winning a gold medal in the 4 x 400m relay the following day. (Ron Casey)

Sabine Busch made a spectacular start to her career as a 400m hurdler, breaking the world record in her first season at the event in 1985, and then, at the 1986 European Championships, finishing second to Marina Stepanova (Soviet Union), who not only robbed Busch of the title she was favourite to win, but her world record as well. With the subsequent retirement of Stepanova, Busch reigned supreme amongst the world's 400m hurdlers in 1987, finishing the season unbeaten, and setting a career best time of 53.24sec when winning the East German national title on 21 July. Despite her success at the event, Busch had a particularly awkward hurdling technique, and would rely on her superior speed to overcome her inferior form over the hurdles. This was strikingly apparent at the World Championships (see photo above . September 1987 © G.H.) in Rome, where Busch tore out of the blocks, but surrendered her lead to compatriot Cornelia Ulrich after stuttering at a couple of hurdles early in the race. However, Busch soon used her superior speed to retake the lead and run away for an easy victory in 53.62sec.   Three days later, Busch won her second gold medal, when she ran the anchor leg on East Germany's victorious 4 x 400m relay team. Busch achieved a number of significant victories in the early part of the 1988 season, but in the much faster run Olympic final she faded to fourth. She did however finish her career with one Olympic medal, as a member of the bronze medal-winning East German foursome in the 4 x 400m relay. Busch underwent surgery on her left foot in 1989, and although she briefly returned to the track, she was unable to capture the form of previous years, and was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 400m hurdles at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo. (Ron Casey)