Glossary entry (derived from question below)
German term or phrase:
ganz oben sein
English translation:
to be on the top rung / to be on top
German term
Austria
Native in: German 
, Italian
Works in: German to Italian, English to German, German to English, and 3 more.
ganz oben sein
Sie war ganz oben und jetzt ist sie ganz unten - im Hinblick auf Erfolg!!!
Danke!
Non-PRO (1): philgoddard
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Proposed translations
to be on the top rung / to be on top
Netherlands
M.Sc. in Architecture, B.A.
Native in: Dutch
Works in: Dutch to German, German to Dutch, English to Dutch, and 5 more.
top of the bill
Austria
b2b/economics/marketing/market research/
Native in: German 
Works in: German to English, French to German, English to German
to reach the peak
(b) all the way at the top
all the way at the top - all the way at the bottom
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Note added at 30 mins (2012-08-17 14:19:08 GMT)
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(be)
| agree |
Horst Huber (X)
: Might it be "to the top"? "Went to ... and now is"?
15 mins
|
United Kingdom
elegant, eloquent, accurate translation
Native in: English (Variant: UK)
Works in: French to English, German to English, Dutch to English, and 1 more.
to be in prime (pole) position / back of the pack
United States
Creativity wins in the long run
Native in: German (Variant: Germany) , English (Variant: US)
Works in: German to English
had it all
Or:
She had reached the top and fell all the way to the bottom..
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Note added at 10 Stunden (2012-08-18 00:29:32 GMT)
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Or better still:
"Had it all, then lost it all"
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Note added at 11 Stunden (2012-08-18 00:53:38 GMT)
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Or:
"She made it big/made it to the top, only to hit rock bottom"
| agree |
Trudy Peters
: I like "had it all," don't know about falling to the bottom...
8 hrs
|
|
Don't blame you. Nobody likes that ;-)
|
worked for int. orgs (IMF, OAS, IDB)
Native in: English
Works in: Spanish to English, German to English
on top of the wave/right up there
Austria
Your message in my language
Native in: English (Variant: British)
Works in: German to English
top of the heap
she was top of the heap and now she is at the bottom of the pile
Accurate, speedy freelance translations
Native in: English (Variants: British, Australian)
Works in: Greek to English, German to English
to be right at the top
At one stage she was right at the top but has now found herself to be right at the bottom.
Discussion
Would like to agree. This fits well into the contect of motivation. There we have a very traditional but often used term of "richtig Gas geben". Therefore picturesque description with the origin of Motor Sports or athletics are fine IMHO.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rota_Fortunae
Intellectually: top/bottom of the class
Potential: in prime (or pole) position/back of the pack