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Sabine BaesFigure skater from the GDR.
Date of Birth: 15.03.1961
Country:  Germany |
Content:
Biography of Sabine Bäss
Sabine Bäss is a former figure skater from East Germany (GDR). She trained in Karl-Marx-Stadt under the renowned coach Irene Salzmann and competed for the SK Karl-Marx-Stadt club, paired with Tassilo Thierbach. After winning consecutive bronze medals at the GDR Championship in 1977, the pair was selected for the national team.
Success and Setbacks
Under coach I. Salzmann's guidance, Bäss and Thierbach developed a sporty, athletic style that emphasized difficult individual elements, particularly the triple Rittberger jump. They quickly progressed and achieved 3rd place at the 1979 European and World Championships. However, their career experienced a setback when Thierbach suffered an injury, causing them to miss the 1981 GDR Championship and European Championship. Nonetheless, they made a strong comeback at the World Championship, showcasing a confident and complex program with a challenging array of jumps, including the triple Rittberger, triple loop, double axel, and double Rittberger (the latter being executed for the first time immediately after a lift).
In the 1981/82 season, Bäss and Thierbach achieved their greatest success, winning the GDR, European, and World Championships. They executed their difficult programs flawlessly, displaying precision, speed, and synchronization. At the 1983 World Championship, they once again flawlessly performed both programs, but narrowly lost to the Soviet pair of Elena Valova and Oleg Vasiliev by a single judge's vote, as the Soviet pair had mastered a more challenging triple loop jump.
Olympic Disappointments
Unfortunately, the pair's performances at both Olympic Games were unsuccessful. Despite being favorites, they unexpectedly made mistakes in the short program, which consisted of simpler elements. In 1980, Thierbach failed to lift Bäss in the mandatory simple lift with one rotation, and in 1984, he mistakenly executed a single Rittberger instead of the simplest jump, the double Rittberger (the Canadian judge did not even notice this error and did not deduct points for technique).
Bäss was more of a leading role in the pair, known for her impressive lifts, including a combination of the triple Rittberger and triple loop, which remains one of the most difficult lifts to this day. These lifts were performed at a fast pace, with great height and distance. However, lifts were always a weak point for pairs from the GDR. The pair always skated to contemporary instrumental music, often of the electronic genre, which perfectly complemented their skating style.
Life after Skating
Currently, Bäss works as a coach at the TSK Berlin club, where one of her students is Stephanie Dankert, who placed 5th at the German Championship. She resides in Oranienbaum, Brandenburg, and has a son.
