Sabine Marbach, known professionally by her maiden name, Baeß, (born 15 March 1961) is a German former pair skater. With her partner Tassilo Thierbach, she is the 1982 World champion and a two-time European champion (1982, 1983).

Career

Baeß/Thierbach were coached by Irene Salzmann in Karl-Marx-Stadt (today Chemnitz) and represented the club SC Karl-Marx-Stadt. They were the only figure skating pair representing East Germany to win the World or European championships. They won their first European Championship, a bronze, in 1977 and their first World Championship medal, a bronze, in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. A mistake in the short program took them out of any chance of a medal at the

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

in Lake Placid however, and they came in fifth overall. Baeß/Thierbach had to skip the 1981 Nationals and Europeans due to Thierbach's meniscus surgery in 1980. They were however able to return to the Worlds in Hartford where they won a silver medal. They won both Europeans and Worlds in 1982, defeating the Soviet Union, on the basis of huge throws and consistency. They defended their European titles in 1983 but despite two clean programs were beaten by Russian newcomers Elena Valova and Oleg Vassiliev, who they had just defeated at the Europeans and led after the short program here. This was a controversial result to many people as Elena put her hands down on a throw. They finished in second place, again to Valova & Vasiliev at the 1984 Europeans but went into the Sarajevo Olympics as one of the favorites for the gold medal. A major mistake on an attempted double loop in the short program put them in fourth place though, and some more mistakes in the long program kept them just off the podium in fourth place overall. At their final Worlds in Ottawa they again had a significant problem in the short program, but were able to skate a stronger long program than the Olympics to climb from 4th to a bronze medal. After 1990 (the year of the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

), Baeß performed in ice shows with Tobias Schröter, a former East German champion in pair skating. They appeared in Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin. Baeß later began working as a figure skating coach in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

at the club TSC Berlin.

Skating style

Sabine and Tassilo were best known for their huge, consistent, and difficult throws. They were one of the first pairs to regularly do the throw triple loop, and also regularly performed a throw triple toe loop. They were an all around strong technical team with strong lifts, death spirals, side by side jumps, and a triple twist. They were less strong on the artistic side of the sport.

Personal life

Baeß married Olaf Marbach and has a son named Moritz. She lives in

and works in health care.

Results

Pairs with Thierbach

References

East German news papers * Junge Welt various issues 1980 to 1990 * Sportecho various issues from 1980 to 1990 * Bundesarchiv

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baess, Sabine 1961 births Living people Figure skaters from Dresden Figure skaters from Bezirk Dresden German female pair skaters Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for East Germany East German female figure skaters World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists 20th-century German sportswomen SC Karl-Marx-Stadt sportspeople