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

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, 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 a ...

runner who ran for

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton in his event. Bucher also won the indoor 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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and also silver at the 2002 Indoor. Other achievements include finishing third at the

2003 IAAF World Athletics Final The 1st IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Stade Louis II, in Monte Carlo, Monaco on 13 September and 14 September 2003. It was the series finale for the 2003 IAAF World Outdoor Meetings and the successor tournament to the 2002 IAAF Grand P ...

. At the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

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 (, , born 12 April 1981) is a Russian middle-distance runner specializing in the 800 metres. Early life Borzakovskiy was born at Kratovo, in the Moscow Oblast. He was named for the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagari ...

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 for 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 FISU World University Games silver medalists for Switzerland World Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade {{Switzerland-athletics-bio-stub