Sabine Baeß
Sabine Marbach, known professionally by her maiden name, Baeß, is a German former pair skater. With her partner Tassilo Thierbach, she is the 1982 World champion and a two-time European champion.
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. 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.
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, 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 at the club TSC Berlin.