Thomas Schönlebe

Thomas Schönlebe was one the world’s best 400 runners in the late 1980s and 1990s. He was World Champion in 1987, the only European to win that event at the Worlds, as of 2015. His time of 44.33 was a European record, still standing as of 2015. In 1993 he earned a bronze medal with the 4x400 relay at Worlds.

Schönlebe won silvers in the 400 at the 1986 and 1990 European Championships, adding a bronze in the 4x400 relay in 1990. He was runner-up in the 400 and with the 4x400 relay at the 1985 World Cup, winning European Cup titles in the 400 in 1985 and 1987, and in the 4x400 in 1987. Schönlebe was East German Champion in 1983-85 and 1987-88, and German Champion in 1992-93 in the 400, adding four East German relay titles and two German ones. Indoors, Schönlebe won three East German and one German title. In 1994 he was awarded the Rudolf Harbig Memorial Award.

Schönlebe was trained as a bank clerk and later became CEO of his home club LAC Erdgas Chemnitz. His son Simon became a high jumper. After German reunification Thomas Schönlebe was accused of systematic doping by Brigitte Berendonk and in documents released by the Military Medical Academy in Bad Saarow, with suspicions that Schönlebe was given high doses of oral turinabol in 1983 and 1984.

Personal Best: 400 – 44.33 (1987).