Gundi BUSCH

In 1954 Gundi Busch became the first German woman to win a figure skating World Championship, which she did that year in Oslo. She had a short career at the top of amateur skating, winning the European title in 1954, and placing second at the 1953 World and European Championships. She had competed at the Worlds in 1951 (10th) and 1952 (6th) and the Europeans in 1951 (6th). At the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics she came in eighth.

Shortly after her World Championships, Busch married Swedish ice hockey star Lill-Lulle Johansson and settled in Sweden. She also skated professionally in ice shows, with the Hollywood Ice Revue. In Sweden Busch spent many years as a skating coach, retiring from coaching in 1997.

She was born in Milano, Italy but the family then moved to the Netherlands and eventually to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. In 2009, she published her autobiography Mein eiskaltes Leben (My Icecold Life).