Sabine John (née Möbius, divorced Paetz, born 16 October 1957) is a retired East German heptathlete. She broke the world record in 1984 with a score of 6946 points, and won silver medals at the 1983 World Championships, and the 1988 Olympic Games.

Career

Born in

Döbeln Döbeln (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Germany, part of the Mittelsachsen district. It sits on the banks of the Freiberger Mulde, Freiberger Mulde river. Location and geography Döbeln is situated in the Central Saxon Hills, Central Saxon Hill co ...

Bezirk Leipzig The Bezirk Leipzig was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany that would last from 1952 to 1990. Leipzig would be reabsorbed into Saxony after the reunification of Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Leipzig. History The dist ...

, John competed for the sports club SC DHfK Leipzig during her career. As Sabine Möbius, she won the silver medal in the heptathlon at the 1982 European Championships, behind fellow East German Ramona Neubert. Competing under her first married name of Sabine Paetz, she won the silver medal in the heptathlon at the 1983 World Championships, again behind Neubert. On 6 May 1984, she broke Neubert's world record of 6935 points, with a score of 6946 in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. This score ranks her second on the German all-time list behind Sabine Braun, and eighth on the world all-time list. She was prevented from competing at the

1984 Olympic Games The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an i ...

due to the Soviet-led boycott, but did finish second to

Yordanka Donkova Yordanka Lyubchova Donkova (; born 28 September 1961) is a Bulgarian former hurdling athlete, notable for winning an Olympic gold medal and bronze medal as well as nine medals at European indoor and outdoor championships. Donkova set fou ...

in the 100 metres hurdles at the 1984 Friendship Games. She finished fourth at the

1986 Goodwill Games The 1986 Goodwill Games was the inaugural edition of the international multi-sport event created by Ted Turner, which was held from 5 – 20 July 1986. The main stadium was the Luzhniki Stadium, Central Lenin Stadium in Moscow, Russian SFSR, Sov ...

with a score of 6456, in a competition won by

Jackie Joyner-Kersee Jacqueline Joyner-Kersee (born March 3, 1962) is an American former track and field athlete who competed in both the heptathlon and long jump. She won three gold, one silver, and two bronze Olympic medals at four different Olympic Games. Joyne ...

with the world record score of 7148. Competing under her second married name of Sabine John, she won the silver medal in the heptathlon at the 1988 Olympic Games in

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

with the second best score of her career, 6897 points. The competition was won with the still-standing 7291 point

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

performance of Jackie Joyner-Kersee. In Seoul, John also finished eighth in the long jump final. John's

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

best of 12.54 seconds, ranks her equal fourth with Kerstin Knabe on the German all-time list, behind Bettine Jahn, Gloria Uibel and Cornelia Oschkenat. Her

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

best of 7.12 metres, ranks her fifth on the German all-time list, behind

Heike Drechsler Heike Gabriela Drechsler (; ; born 16 December 1964) is a German former track and field athlete who represented East Germany and later Germany. One of the most successful long jumpers of all-time, she is a former world record holder and ranks ...

Malaika Mihambo Malaika Mihambo (; born 3 February 1994) is a German athlete, 2020 Olympic champion and 2022 world champion in long jump. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, Mihambo added a silver medal in the long jump. Career Mihambo's athletic career began around ...

Helga Radtke Helga Radtke (born 16 May 1962 in Sanitz, Rostock) is a retired German track and field athlete, former World Indoor Long Jump Champion. Career She competed from 1979 to the 1990s in the long and triple jumps. Until 1990 she represented ...

, and

Sosthene Moguenara Sosthene-Taroum Moguenara (born 17 October 1989) is a German long jumper. She competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, but failed to qualify for the final. In 2011 Moguenara won the bronze medal at the European Athletics U23 Championships i ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:John, Sabine 1957 births Living people People from Döbeln Athletes from Bezirk Leipzig East German female hurdlers East German heptathletes Olympic athletes for East Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for East Germany Olympic silver medalists for East Germany World record setters in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Competitors at the 1986 Goodwill Games Friendship Games medalists in athletics SC DHfK Leipzig athletes East German Athletics Championships winners