Sabine Baeß

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Sabine Baeß
Sabine Baeß, 1983
Born	(1961-03-15) 15 March 1961 (age 63) Dresden, Bezirk Dresden, East Germany
Height	5 ft 0.5 in (154 cm)
Figure skating career
Country	East Germany
Retired	1984
Medal record Representing  East Germany Pair skating World Championships 1982 Copenhagen Pairs 1981 Hartford Pairs 1983 Helsinki Pairs 1979 Vienna Pairs 1984 Ottawa Pairs European Championships 1982 Lyon Pairs 1983 Dortmund Pairs 1984 Budapest Pairs 1979 Zagreb Pairs

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).

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.^[1] A mistake in the short program took them out of any chance of a medal at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid however, and they came in fifth overall.^[1]

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,^[1] 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.^[1] 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), Baeß performed in ice shows with Tobias Schröter, a former East German champion in pair skating. They appeared in Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin.^[2] Baeß later began working as a figure skating coach in Berlin at the club TSC Berlin.

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.

Baeß married Olaf Marbach and has a son named Moritz. She lives in Berlin and works in health care.

Pairs with Thierbach

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sabine Baeß.

East German news papers

• Junge Welt various issues 1980 to 1990
• Sportecho various issues from 1980 to 1990
• Bundesarchiv

• Sabine Baeß at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)