Thomas Schönlebe
![]() Schönlebe in 1986 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | 6 August 1965 Frauenstein, East Germany | (age 56)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 74 kg (163 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Thomas Schönlebe (born 6 August 1965) is a retired East German track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres. He won the gold medal at the 1987 World Championships. In that race, he set a European record of 44.33 seconds which still stands.
A year earlier, Schönlebe had finished second at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart behind Roger Black. One of his last achievements was the third place at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart with the (now unified) German 4 × 400 m relay team.
Schönlebe achieved three world indoor records during his career[1]
- 45.41 s in the 400 m on 9 February 1986;
- 45.05 s in 400 m on 5 February 1988;
- 3:03.05 in 4x400 m relay as a member of a German team on 10 March 1991.
Note: Schönlebe's first record has the distinction of being the inaugural record at the distance when the IAAF established the category of world indoor records on January 1, 1987.
Schönlebe later became chief executive officer of his hometown club, LAC Erdgas Chemnitz [3]
In 1994, he was the awarded the Rudolf Harbig Memorial Award.
International competitions[]
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing ![]() | |||||
1983 | European Junior Championships | Schwechat, Austria | 1st | 400 m | 45.64 |
1st | 4 × 400 m | 3:04.95 | |||
European Cup | London, UK | 2nd | 400 m | 45.70 | |
1985 | World Indoor Games | Paris, France | 1st | 400 m | 45.60 |
European Cup | Moscow, Soviet Union | 1st | 400 m | 44.96 | |
World Cup | Canberra, Australia | 2nd | 400 m | 44.72 | |
2nd | 4 × 400 m | 3:00.82 | |||
1986 | European Indoor Championships | Madrid, Spain | 1st | 400 m | 46.98 |
European Championships | Stuttgart, Germany | 2nd | 400 m | 44.63 | |
6th | 4 × 400 m | 3:04.87 | |||
1987 | World Championships | Rome, Italy | 1st | 400 m | 44.33 |
heats | 4 × 400 m | DNF | |||
European Cup | Prague, Czechoslovakia | 1st | 400 m | 44.96 | |
1st | 4 × 400 m | 3:00.80 | |||
1988 | European Indoor Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 4th (sf) | 400 m | 46.86 |
Olympic Games | Seoul, South Korea | 9th (sf) | 400 m | 44.90 | |
4th | 4 × 400 m | 3:01.13 | |||
1989 | World Cup | Barcelona, Spain | 5th | 4 × 400 m | 3:02.73 |
1990 | European Championships | Split, Yugoslavia | 2nd | 400 m | 45.13 |
3rd | 4 × 400 m | 3:01.51 | |||
Representing ![]() | |||||
1991 | World Indoor Championships | Seville, Spain | 1st | 4 × 400 m | 3:03.05 |
1992 | Olympic Games | Barcelona, Spain | 15th (qf) | 400 m | 45.46 |
heats | 4 × 400 m | DNF | |||
1993 | World Championships | Stuttgart, Germany | 3rd | 4 × 400 m | 2:59.99 |
(#) Indicates overall position in quarterfinal (qf) or semifinal (sf) round |
Note: Schönlebe qualified for the 1988 European Indoor final but withdrew.
World rankings[]
Schonlebe was ranked among the best in the world at the 400 m sprint events in the period 1983–87 (including world number one in 1987), according to the votes of the experts of Track and Field News.[4]
Year | World rank |
---|---|
1983 | 8th |
1984 | - |
1985 | 2nd |
1986 | 10th |
1987 | 1st |
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Progression of IAAF World Records 2011 Edition, Editor Imre Matrahazi, IAAF Athletics, p. 400 and p. 406.
- ^ "WORLD RECORD PROGRESSION OF 400 METRES". IAAF. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
- ^ "Thomas Schonlebe". Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
- ^ "MEN'S WORLD 400 RANKINGS BY ATHLETE 1947–2018". Track and Field News.
- 1965 births
- Living people
- People from Frauenstein, Saxony
- German male sprinters
- East German male sprinters
- Olympic athletes of East Germany
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes of Germany
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics
- World Athletics Championships athletes for Germany
- World Athletics Championships athletes for East Germany
- World Athletics Championships medalists
- European Athletics Championships medalists
- World Athletics Indoor Championships winners
- World Athletics Championships winners
- Friendship Games medalists in athletics