André Bucher (born 19 October 1976) is a retired Swiss

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

runner who ran for Adidas. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton in his event. Bucher also won the

indoor Indoor(s) may refer to: *the interior of a building *Indoor environment, in building science, traditionally includes the study of indoor thermal environment, indoor acoustic environment, indoor light environment, and indoor air quality *Built envi ...

bronze that same year. He was born in Neudorf. Bucher won two European Championship silver medals in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 2002 and also silver at the 2002 Indoor. Other achievements include finishing third at the 2003 IAAF World Athletics Final. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney a medal was possibly chiselled out of him when he was barged into by his competitor Andrea Longo. While Bucher finished the race in fifth place, Longo was later disqualified. On 17 August 2001, Bucher posted a personal best of 1:42.55 minutes in the 800 meters. That time currently ranks him as the 17th fastest athlete in history. On that race, he beat the young

Yuriy Borzakovskiy Yuriy Mikhailovich Borzakovskiy (russian: Юрий Михайлович Борзаковский, , born 12 April 1981) is a Russian middle-distance runner specializing in the 800 metres. Early life Borzakovskiy was born at Kratovo, in the Mos ...

by a decent margin. The week after, Borzakovskiy would post the time that currently makes him 12th fastest in history. Bucher retired in May 2007 due to a long-term heel injury.

Achievements

References

1976 births Living people Swiss male middle-distance runners Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Switzerland World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) IAAF Golden League winners European Athlete of the Year winners Universiade silver medalists for Switzerland World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade {{Switzerland-athletics-bio-stub