André Bucher (born 19 October 1976) is a retired Swiss 800 metres runner who ran for Adidas. He is best known for winning the gold medal at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton in his event. Bucher also won the indoor bronze that same year. He was born in Neudorf.
Bucher won two European Championship silver medals in 1998, 2002 and also silver at the 2002 Indoor. Other achievements include finishing third at the 2003 IAAF World Athletics Final.
At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney a medal was possibly chiselled out of him when he was barged into by his competitor Andrea Longo. While Bucher finished the race in fifth place, Longo was later disqualified.
On 17 August 2001, Bucher posted a personal best of 1:42.55 minutes in the 800 meters. That time currently ranks him as the 17th fastest athlete in history. On that race, he beat the young Yuriy Borzakovskiy by a decent margin. The week after, Borzakovskiy would post the time that currently makes him 12th fastest in history.
Bucher retired in May 2007 due to a long-term heel injury.
Achievements Representing 1994World Junior ChampionshipsLisbon, Portugal2nd1500 m3:40.461995European Junior ChampionshipsNyíregyháza, Hungary2nd800 m1:46.731996Olympic GamesAtlanta, United States11th (sf)800 m1:46.411997European U23 ChampionshipsTurku, Finland2nd800 m1:47.13World ChampionshipsAthens, Greece14th (sf)800 m1:46.881998European ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary2nd800 m1:45.04 (NR)1999World Indoor ChampionshipsMaebashi, Japan23rd (h)800 m1:52.43UniversiadePalma de Mallorca, Spain2nd800 m 1:46.49World ChampionshipsSeville, Spain19th (sf)800 m1:48.072000Olympic GamesSydney, Australia5th800 m1:45.4016th (h) relay3:06.012001World Indoor ChampionshipsLisbon, Portugal3rd800 m1:46.46World ChampionshipsEdmonton, Canada1st800 m1:43.702002European Indoor ChampionshipsVienna, Austria2nd800 m1:44.93 (iNR)European ChampionshipsMunich, Germany2nd800 m1:47.432003World ChampionshipsParis, France11th (sf)800 m1:46.672004Olympic GamesAthens, Greece38th (h)800 m1:47.342005World ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland23rd (h)800 m1:47.97
References