Thomas Schönlebe

Thomas Schönlebe (born 6 August 1965) is a retired East German track and field athlete who competed in the 400 metres. He won the gold medal at the 1987 World Championships. In that race, he set a European record of 44.33 seconds which stood for 35 years before it was broken by Matthew Hudson-Smith in August 2023.

Thomas Schönlebe

Schönlebe in 1986
Personal information
Born	6 August 1965 (1965-08-06) (age 58) Frauenstein, East Germany
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	74 kg (163 lb)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing East Germany World Championships 1987 Rome 400 m World Indoor Games 1985 Paris 400 m European Championships 1986 Stuttgart 400 m 1990 Split 400 m 1990 Split 4 × 400 m relay European Indoor Championships 1986 Madrid 400 m Representing  Germany World Championships 1993 Stuttgart 4 × 400 m relay World Indoor Championships 1991 Seville 4 × 400 m relay

A year earlier, Schönlebe had finished second at the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart behind Roger Black. One of his last achievements was the third place at the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart with the (now unified) German 4 × 400 m relay team.

Schönlebe achieved three world indoor records during his career^[1]

^[2]

• 45.41 s in the 400 m on 9 February 1986;
• 45.05 s in 400 m on 5 February 1988;
• 3:03.05 in 4x400 m relay as a member of a German team on 10 March 1991.

Note: Schönlebe's first record has the distinction of being the inaugural record at the distance when the IAAF established the category of world indoor records on 1 January 1987.

Schönlebe later became chief executive officer of his hometown club, LAC Erdgas Chemnitz^[3]

In 1994, he was awarded the Rudolf Harbig Memorial Award.