Katarina Witt | German figure skater | Britannica.com German figure skater Yekaterina Gordeeva Katarina Witt, (born December 3, 1965, Karl-Marx-Stadt , East Germany [now Chemnitz, Germany]), German figure skater who was the first woman to win consecutive Olympic gold medals (1984 and 1988) in singles figure skating since Sonja Henie in 1936. The charismatic Witt defined the sport in the 1980s with her flirtatious and graceful performances. She won four world titles (1984–85 and 1987–88) and six European championships (1983–88). Katarina Witt performing her long program at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. Mark Cardwell—AFP/Getty Images Witt began skating at age five and soon attracted the attention of East German sports officials, who placed her in the country’s special training program. She practiced with Jutta Müller, one of the world’s premier figure-skating coaches, who encouraged Witt to express her engaging personality on the ice.

In 1981 Witt won her first major competition, capturing the East German national championship, a title she would hold for the next seven years. Witt entered the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo , Yugoslavia (now in Bosnia and Herzegovina), as a favourite to medal even though she had never won a world title. Coming from behind during her forte, the long program, Witt defeated American Rosalynn Sumners by only 0.1 point to capture the gold. At the 1988 Olympics in Calgary , Alberta, Canada , Witt faced the only skater to have defeated her in five years, American Debi Thomas. Both women skated to music from Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen in the long program, but Witt’s masterly interpretation of the heroine brought a new style of sensual grace and theatre to the ice, and she retained the Olympic title. After winning her final world championship in 1988, Witt retired from amateur skating. In 1990 she starred in the television special Carmen on Ice, a performance that garnered her an Emmy Award . In the same year, Witt and Brian Boitano developed a skating show that toured the United States .

She also toured with Stars on Ice and Champions on Ice. A change in Olympic rules allowed Witt to return to the ice at the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer , Norway , where she placed seventh. She then returned to her touring schedule and entered many professional competitions. She also worked as a commentator at various national and international skating events. Learn More in these related articles: in Olympic Games Figure Skating - Witt and charm prevail on the ice - Olympic News Figure Skating - Witt and charm prevail on the ice twitter Share No athlete arrived in Calgary with a higher profile than East German figure skater Katarina Witt . Four years earlier she had not just won the women’s individual gold, but had earned global attention and celebrity. Since then, Witt had added the 1985 and 1987 world titles to establish herself as the pre-eminent female figure skater in the world. In fact, in the four years between the 1984 and 1988 Winter Games, she had been beaten only once, by the American Debi Thomas, who pipped her to the1986 world title. Thomas and Witt cut contrasting figures.

The American was a student who was preparing to go to medical school and she lacked the global celebrity of her German rival. But the two did have something in common: their choice of music. By a remarkable coincidence, both skaters had decided to skate to the music from Bizet’s opera Carmen in their free programmes. The stage seemed set for a classic battle – feted champion against the student challenger, and it was duly billed as “The Battle of the Carmens”. However, it was the Soviet skater Kira Ivanova who established an early lead after the compulsory section, with Thomas second, and Witt lying third. It was in the short programme that the two favourites truly started to flex their skating muscles. Witt scored highest, with Thomas second and Ivanova down in seventh. It seemed certain that the two favourites would now go head to head for gold in the free programme. The first to deliver her interpretation of Carmen was Witt, who produced a beautiful performance, full of character and emotion. But it was slightly lacking in adventure so while the reigning champion earned high marks for artistic impression she could not match them for technical performance. Could Thomas take advantage?

First she had to look on as Canada’s Elizabeth Manley, who was third after the short programme, stepped onto the ice to deliver her free programme. Inspired by the home crowd, she produced a superb display that earned her high marks and put her into contention for a silver medal. Now it was all down to Thomas. Perform at her best and she could take gold, but unfortunately she couldn’t rise to the occasion. She fell on her first jump and as a result her confidence deserted her. She missed with two more jumps and also put her hand down on the ice at one point. In the end she slipped out of silver medal spot and had to content herself with a bronze medal, as Witt retained her title, ahead of Manley Witt took part in the next Winter Games in Albertville, finishing seventh, and then retired from competition. She went on to tour on the professional circuit. Meanwhile Thomas went on to become a surgeon. Katarina Witt (Figure Skater) - Pics, Videos, Dating, & News Katarina Witt Female Born Dec 3, 1965 Katarina Witt is a German figure skater and model.

In Germany she was commonly called "Kati" in the past, but today her full name is used more often. She won two Olympic gold medals for East Germany, first in the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics and the second in 1988 at the Calgary Olympics. She won the World Championships four times (in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988), and six consecutive European Championships (1983â1988).… Read More related links Retirement Planning: The Benefits Of Working Longer Nasdaq Stock Market - Feb 04, 2014 'Daryl Owens has experienced more curveballs in the past decade than many people face in a lifetime. A New Orleans native, she lost her home and all her possessions in 2005 to Hurricane Katrina. With most of the hospitals' Senain Kheshgi: The Diplomat Huffington Post Sports - Aug 06, 2013 '\n Growing up in 1980s America, we were inundated with images of life on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

Everyday, news reports beamed stories of soldiers patrolling the Berlin Wall and Eastern European politicians spouting rhetoric against the United States. Though life appeared grey and bleak in the Communist East, instinctually, we knew that people abroad must have received similar types of skewed messages about daily life in America. Of course, things are never entirely what ... Senain Khesghi: The Diplomat Huffington Post Sports - Aug 05, 2013 '\n Growing up in 1980s America, we were inundated with images of life on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Everyday, news reports beamed stories of soldiers patrolling the Berlin Wall and Eastern European politicians spouting rhetoric against the United States. Though life appeared grey and bleak in the Communist East, instinctually, we knew that people abroad must have received similar types of skewed messages about daily life in America. Of course, things are never entirely what ... 25 Years Ago Today: Remembering Calgary '88 Huffington Post Sports - Feb 13, 2013 '\n It was 25 years ago today that the eyes of the world turned on Calgary. \n\n The legacy of Calgary \'88 is still everywhere in the city..

the Saddledome is still the city\'s most visited venue for sport and entertainment, Calgarians still talk about the games fondly and with pride, and the ski jumps still loom high above Canada Olympic Park, reminding all heading west that they are departing an Olympic city. \n\n But as the quarter-century anniversary of the games rolled into town... Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Katarina Witt. CHILDHOOD 1965 Birth Born on December 3, 1965. TEENAGE 1977 - 1982 3 More Events 1977 11 Years Old Witt represented the SC Karl-Marx-Stadt club for East Germany (GDR). Jutta MÃ¼ller began coaching her in 1977. … Read More Witt trained six days a week, sometimes for seven hours a day with three hours spent on compulsory figures. Read Less 1979 13 Years Old Witt made her first appearance in a major international competition at the 1979 European Championships, finishing 14th at the event.

1982 16 Years Old She placed on a major podium for the first time in 1982, winning silver at both the European and World Championships. … Read More The next season, she won her first European title but finished off the World podium in 4th place. Read Less 1983 17 Years Old Witt's taste in figure skating costumes sometimes caused debate. At the 1983 European Championships, she skated her Mozart short program in knee breeches instead of a skirt. … Read More Her blue skirtless feather-trimmed 1988 costume for a showgirl-themed short program was considered too theatrical and sexy, and led to a change in the ISU regulations dubbed the "Katarina rule" which required female skaters to wear more modest clothing including skirts that covered the buttocks and crotch. Read Less Show Less In 1984, Witt was voted "GDR female athlete of the year" by the readers of the East German newspaper Junge Welt. She narrowly won the 1984 Olympic title in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, over the favoured contender, reigning World champion Rosalynn Sumners of the United States.

… Read More Witt and Sumners held the top two spots heading into the Olympic free skate, which was worth 50% of the total score. Witt landed three triple jumps in her free skate program, and the judges left room for Sumners to win the event. Sumners scaled back two of her jumps and Witt won the long program by one-tenth of a point on one judge's scorecard. Witt then went on to win her first World title. Read Less 1985 19 Years Old Witt successfully defended her World title in 1985 but placed second to American Debi Thomas the following year. TWENTIES 1987 21 Years Old In 1987, Witt won her third World title. … Read More Although Witt finished fifth in compulsory figures, which meant that Thomas could finish second in both the short and long programs and still retain the World title, Thomas' 7th place in the short program put the two skaters on a level playing field ahead of the free skate. Witt landed five triple jumps, including a triple loop jump.

Although Thomas also skated a strong long program, Witt was ranked first by the majority of the nine judges and reclaimed the World title. Read Less In 1994, Witt made a comeback to the competitive skating scene, coached again by Jutta MÃ¼ller. … Read More She finished second at the German Championships behind Tanja Szewczenko with Marina Kielmann third. Read Less Witt's first international competition for the reunified country of Germany, following eleven years competing for East Germany, was the 1994 European Championships, where she finished 8th, again ahead of Kielmann who was 9th. She qualified for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, where she finished 7th. … Read More Her free program to the music âSag mir wo die Blumen sindâ (an arrangement of the Pete Seeger folksong "Where Have All the Flowers Gone") included a peace message for the people of Sarajevo, the site of her first Olympic victory. She received the Golden Camera for her Olympic comeback.

Read Less In 1994, skating a Robin Hood-themed program, she again pushed the boundaries of costume regulations by wearing a short tunic over leggings. In 1994, Witt published her autobiography Meine Jahre zwischen Pflicht und KÃ¼r (My Years between Compulsories and Freestyle). 1995 29 Years Old In 1995, Witt was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. … Read More Her farewell from show skating tour took place in February and March 2008. Read Less THIRTIES 1996 30 Years Old In 1996, Witt had a cameo role in the movie Jerry Maguire. … Read More She also starred in a German-language movie called Princess on Ice. Witt provided the vocals for the theme song, "Skate With Me". Read Less 1997 31 Years Old Witt appeared as herself in two episodes of the TV comedy series Arli$$ that aired in 1997 and 1998.

Show Less Witt posed nude for Playboy magazine at age 32, and the pictures were published months later in the December 1998 issue (she turned 33 on 3 December), which was the second ever sold-out issue of the magazine. (The first sold-out issue was the inaugural one including photos of Marilyn Monroe.) Witt said she did not care for the "cute, pretty, ice princess image" of figure skaters and wanted to "change people's perceptions." In 1998, Witt appeared in the movie Ronin in a small supporting role with several lines of script. 2005 39 Years Old Around this time, she also played a villain in an episode of the tongue-in-cheek television series, V.I.P. In November 2005, Witt published a novel, Only with Passion, in which she offers advice to a fictional young skater based on her many years of skating. … Read More Since October 2006, she has her own TV show, Stars auf Eis (Stars on Ice), on the German station ProSieben. Read Less FORTIES East German Figure Skaters East German Figure Skaters Welcome!

You must register and login before you can post in the Forum. Enjoy your stay! 0 East German Figure Skaters While the unification of East and West Germany was a wonderful thing, it did seem to bring to a screeching halt the East German figure skating dynasty, especially as far as the women were concerned. For many years, East Germany produced a number of top-ranked woman figure skaters, and they emassed a very impressive number of World and Olympic titles and medals. Going back to the mid-1960s, blonde and vivacious Gabriel Seyfert won three World silvers (66-68) and the 1968 Olympic silver medal behind Peggy Fleming of the United States. Gaby was a rather stocky young lady, with strong legs, and she could really jump high. After Peggy turned pro, Gaby remained in the amateur ranks for two more seasons and won the 1969 and 1970 World titles. It was a mystery to me why she retired after the 1970 season, as it seemed that Gaby would have been the odds-on favorite to win the 1972 Olympic gold medal, had she stayed in the game.

Gaby became a member of the East German media and covered a number of future international figure skating competitions. Christine Errath was another vivacious East German skater who starred in the mid-1970s, with the 1974 World title, bronze World medals in 73 and 75, the World silver medal in 76 and the Olympic bronze medal in 1976. Christine had an amusing way of standing at center ice following her program, with her hands on her hips, eyeing the judges as if to say, "OK, I've skated well, now let's have some good marks!" Annet Poetzsch became the first East German woman to win the Olympic figure skating title with her victory in Lake Placid in 1980 over Linda Fratianne of the US. While Annet was hardly an inspiring skater - she was almost awkward on the ice, and her artistry, as it was, usually looked pretty stilted, she was a great school figures skater, and she usually emassed a large enough margin with the school figures to carry her onto the podium.

At the Olympics, she won the school figures, was fourth in the short and third in the long, yet she scored enough overall points to win the gold medal. Annet won the World titles in 1978 and 1980 and the World silver medal in 1977 and 1979 behind Fratianne. After the 1980 season, Annet returned to the GDR and faded from public view. Of course, most of us remember Katarina Witt as the figure skating diva from Karl Marx-Stadt. Kat won the 1984 and 1988 Olympic titles, the 84, 85, 87, and 88 World titles, and the 82 and 86 World silver medals. She also won six European titles. While Witt may not have been the best skater of her era, she was without question the best competitor. She really had the "killer instinct" when she competed, and she seemed to thrive on pressure. I remember watching the 1987 Worlds from Cincinnati, in which Kat regained the World title she had lost to Debi Thomas the previous year.

She skated a fantastic long program to "West Side Story" and landed five clean triple jumps. She later said that was her best competitive program ever, and it was the best of the field, without question. Of course, Kat's beautiful face and figure were favorably looked upon by the media and the judges. She was a saucy, flirtatious "Carmen" and played that role to the hilt in Calgary, 1988. I only remember one other East German woman figure skater who won an international medal was Simone Lang, who won the bronze at the 1989 Skate America competition - just a few weeks before the Berlin Wall fell. Many of the above skaters competed to American music - "Funny Girl", "Gerswhin", "West Side Story", etc. I remember that Poetzsch skated an exhibition program to country western music. Clearly, they wanted to play to the western audiences, and they were successful in doing so. All of the above skaters had the same coach - Frau Muller, who is Gaby Seyfert's mother. Muller was a stern disciplinarian, and she succeeded in producing a steady string of champions for two decades.

Undoubtedly, the East German sports machine suffered with the collapse of the GDR. All of the funding, "privileges", free training, etc., that was provided for the top GDR skaters disappeared when East Germany ceased to exist. I recall an interview Witt had on "The Larry King Show" in which she defended her receipt of those special privileges. She said, to paraphrase, "I think it was right for me to receive these things, because I trained very hard and brought honor to my country". In restrospect, I have to agree with Kat. What she did was remarkable and she deserved those goodies. In contrast with today's millionarie skating stars, what she received was a mere pittance - two small apartments, some spending money, and one of those lemon Travant cars. Anyway, I miss seeing those ladies from the GDR. I had hoped that we would be seeing more German ladies emerge as stars by now, but it hasn't happened yet. Of course, the Americans, Japanese, Russians, and others are very strong, but it would be nice to see Germany produce top skaters to get into the mix.

08-18-2004, 04:47 PM #2 Were they a dynasty? Well, they did produce world champions and Oly medalists in 3 of the 4 disciplines. OTOH, the "dynasty" seems to really revolve around a small group of skaters all coached by Frau Muller (Seyfert, Hoffmann, Poetzsch and Witt). She was comparable to TT or Fassi or Lussi, but GDR comes no where close to the USSR or USA in term of overall number of successful coaches, champions and medalists. Muller was controversial and there are some (insiders, not fans) who consider her student's wins more political than athletic. Sour grapes perhaps. At any rate, most of them were considered a real "fridge break" when it came to the actual free skating. IIRC, Erath wasn't coached by Muller. Perhaps that explains why she didn't win more often. Unlike the USSR or USA, (and now the Japanese ladies) they never had a trove of high quality skaters all competing just to make the team, and never had more than one medalsit on the podium.

In fact, they seem to have often only sent one skater to international comps despite the option to send 3. When the USSR broke up, everyone perdicted the eminant demise of Russian champs. A decade later and they are still overwhelmingly dominating the sport (they are the only country to sweep the golds in one worlds, and to sweep the podium in both pairs and dance). Perhaps the doom forcasted was because of what happened in Germany. Perhaps the GDR just wasn't as good at adapting to change ( what's the scientific term for when some species can evolve with greater adaptability than others? ) Perhaps Frau Muller's demise was the demise of the whole "dnyasty". For someone who was supposidly so well connected, she seems to have fallen off the map. They won a few medals in a short period of time, but other than that they're pretty low on the overall medals by country count. I think that they were more successful propaganda machine then successful sports machine, but that's JMHO. 08-19-2004, 08:48 AM #6 Originally Posted by berthes ghost Were they a dynasty?

Well, they did produce world champions and Oly medalists in 3 of the 4 disciplines. OTOH, the "dynasty" seems to really revolve around a small group of skaters all coached by Frau Muller (Seyfert, Hoffmann, Poetzsch and Witt). She was comparable to TT or Fassi or Lussi, but GDR comes no where close to the USSR or USA in term of overall number of successful coaches, champions and medalists. They won a few medals in a short period of time, but other than that they're pretty low on the overall medals by country count. I think that they were more successful propaganda machine then successful sports machine, but that's JMHO. Interesting thoughts. I agree with you that there was a considerable amount of resentment from the Western press over the victories of the East German skaters, particularly the 1980 Olympic victory of Poetszch over Fratianne. We wuz robbed!! was echoed throughout the landscape over that decision. And, frankly, choregraphically, their programs sometimes were pretty bland. I remember reading an AP report of Witt's 1986 World defeat at the hands of Debi Thomas.

It read (to paraphrase, "When Witt missed her short program combination jump, her mouth contorted into the German f-word." Eeech. Another report labeled her "the beautiful villainess who stole the gold medal from Roz Sumners." Give me break, folks. Our American ladies have always been wonderful, and I have cheered them on for decades (more years than I care to remember, actually). However, it stands as a fact for about two decades, the East Germans won the Olympic gold medals, not the Americans, and they won a bevy of World titles as well. Yes, it's absolutely true that there was only one star GDR skater on the ice. They weren't blessed with trios such as Thomas/Trenary/Kadavy or with a long list of young skaters who were vying to make the US World team. They seemed to produce one major star at a time. So be it - perhaps that's the way their system functioned. Another aspect that I did not mention in my initial post was that the GDR government did not permit any of their star skaters to travel with their families to the Worlds and/or Olympics.

No doubt, the powers that were feared that the whole family might defect to the West. Katarina Witt's parents were not allowed to accompany their daughter to the Worlds until 1988, and that was because the competition was held in Budapest, Hungary, a Socialist country. After Witt won her second gold medal, she wasn't even sure whether or not she would be allowed to skate professionally. Can you imagine that kind of treatment of an American, Japanese, or any other skater after winning Olympic gold? 08-19-2004, 08:50 AM #7 Originally Posted by berthes ghost Were they a dynasty? Perhaps the doom forcasted was because of what happened in Germany. Perhaps the GDR just wasn't as good at adapting to change ( what's the scientific term for when some species can evolve with greater adaptability than others? ) Perhaps Frau Muller's demise was the demise of the whole "dnyasty". For someone who was supposidly so well connected, she seems to have fallen off the map. We can only imagine the disruption that was caused by the unification of West and East Germany.

Let's remember that the GDR had total control of its citizens, from the cradle to the grave, and that freedom of thought and expression was not a welcomed commodity behind the Iron Curtain. Perhaps Frau Muller's rather authoritarian coaching style ran afoul with the new German skating federation and she was not hired by any of their top skating facilities. Some people, as you write, cannot adapt well to change. In these days, folks who aren't flexible, at least to an extent, are going to run in trouble at some point in time. Mergers, layoffs, blended families, you name it - the only constant is change these days. I'm not criticizing the East Germans for this, as they probably encountered all kinds of problems, and perhaps resentment, from the skaters and coaches from the former West Germany. 08-19-2004, 09:17 AM #9 0 Originally Posted by SkateFan4Life It was a mystery to me why she retired after the 1970 season, as it seemed that Gaby would have been the odds-on favorite to win the 1972 Olympic gold medal, had she stayed in the game..

What's makes it even more mysterious to me is that this seemingly odd decision was mirrored in the men's event. Both Seyfert and Wood took silver in Grenoble. Both took gold in 69 and 70. Schuba was second both times as was Nepala. Both mysteriously turned pro after 70 worlds. Both Schuba and Nepala took gold in 71 and again in 72 including the Sapporo Olys although neither one of them could even muster top 3 in free skating. 08-19-2004, 09:31 AM #10 0 Originally Posted by berthes ghost What's makes it even more mysterious to me is that this seemingly odd decision was mirrored in the men's event. Both Seyfert and Wood took silver in Grenoble. Both took gold in 69 and 70. Schuba was second both times as was Nepala. Both mysteriously turned pro after 70 worlds. Both Schuba and Nepala took gold in 71 and again in 72 including the Sapporo Olys although neither one of them could even muster top 3 in free skating. Good point.

It was a mystery to me why Timothy Wood turned pro after winning his second World title in 1970, as he was a strong jumper and artistic skater who could have won the 1972 Olympic gold medal. On the other hand, in those days figure skaters only had a handful of competitions every season, and they did not have the financial oppportunities that today's top skaters have - lucrative endorsements, tours, shows, appearance fees, etc. Today's top eligible skaters can remain in the game for a lot longer than the top skaters of 30 years ago, if for no other reason, for the chance to make big money. IMHO, of course. 08-20-2004, 06:05 AM #11 4,431 0 What happened with GDR was perhaps more dramatic then what happened to USSR. The latter got to keep its old institutions, even though the funding and the structure around them collapsed. As GDR was absorbed into the unified Germany, its instutions became all but redundant. Also, I'd argue that the Russian champions of today are a very different phenomenon then the USSR champions of two decades ago.

There is a lot more free choice involved, and they are not followed through every second of their lives the way the old athletes were. That's why I doubt we will see out of Russia the champions with the consistency of Rodnina & partners or Gordeeva and Grinkov. 08-20-2004, 08:48 AM #13 Originally Posted by Ptichka As GDR was absorbed into the unified Germany, its instutions became all but redundant. Do you mean politically, as in the "losers" must be punished? In any business merger, the company with the stronger program would win out. The GDR had a far more successful program than the FRG, why not keep it as the one to keep? I'm a little sceptical. I think that the USSR had a truely successful program, that's why they often had two podium finishes and even sometimes 3. Other than Frau Muller's small clique of stars, I think that the GDR program was probably all smoke an mirrors. 6 world champs in 20 years? That's kid stuff compared to the US and USSR.

08-20-2004, 10:07 AM #14 0 Originally Posted by berthes ghost Do you mean politically, as in the "losers" must be punished? In any business merger, the company with the stronger program would win out. The GDR had a far more successful program than the FRG, why not keep it as the one to keep? Admittedly, I do not know that much about the unification (so anyone who knows better -- please correct me), but my understanding is that the old GDR institutions were basically all dismantled without much weeding out of good ones and bad ones. Also, I don't think it's fair to compare GDR is either USSR or US -- the country is just not the same size, with so much potential skaters.

08-21-2004, 12:37 PM #15 German Missions in the United States - Katarina Witt You are here Katarina Witt “Katarina the Great” – Queen on Ice Aug 20, 2009 The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was followed by German reunification in 1990. In celebrating the 20th anniversary of the peaceful revolution that brought down the Wall, Germany.info in 2009 profiled important East Germans who have shaped beyond all physical borders the cultural, intellectual and political life of postwar Germany and Europe. Enlarge image Katarina Witt received her first Olympic gold medal at the Winter Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina), in 1984. (© picture-alliance/ dpa) Before becoming East Germany’s first professional athlete, Katarina Witt captured more figure skating titles than anyone else in the history of the sport and her expressive skating style garnered her international fame.

Katarina Witt was born on December 3, 1965, in Staaken, just outside Berlin, in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). At age seven, only two years after having first stepped onto the ice, Witt took part in her first competition and was awarded first place. She attended the Kinder-und-Jugend-Sportschule, a special school with an emphasis on sports training, and was coached by Jutta Mueller in Karl-Marx-Stadt (present-day Chemitz). In 1980, at age 14, she participated in the World Championships for the first time and was awarded tenth place. Only four years later, she not only won the Gold Medal at the 1984 Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia (present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina), but was also recognized as National Champion, European Champion and World Champion. Enlarge image Katarina Witt as "Carmen" during the final free skate of the Winter Olympic Games in 1988. (© picture-alliance/ dpa) While amateur and Olympic athletes were encouraged and supported by the East German government, professional sports were viewed as capitalistic, inhuman, and exploitative.

Nevertheless, the East German government promised Witt that if she won a second Olympic Gold Medal for the country, she would be allowed to fulfill her dream of becoming a professional ice skater. Witt was dedicated to the perfection of her passion and famous for her ability to charm audiences with a blend of charismatic appeal, artistry and athletic expertise. Her performance at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada, was one of her greatest. She flirted with the audience throughout her expressive performance as the temptress Carmen from the George Bizet’s opera. In Calgary, Katarina Witt became the second figure skater in history to win two consecutive gold medals. Soon thereafter Katarina Witt gave up her competitive figure skating career to become the first professional athlete in East Germany. From November 1988 until March 1989, she starred in the revue Holiday on Ice, which made quite a splash in East Germany. The East German government retained eighty percent of her earnings as a professional skater but continued to give her special concessions. Over the years she had received a car, an apartment, and as a special privilege, a passport allowing her to travel to West Berlin. She was, however, also under constant scrutiny.

The Stasi, the East German secret police, placed her under 24-hour surveillance following her win at the Olympic Games in 1984. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, she learned that the Stasi had amassed some 1,354 pages documenting the intimate details of her professional and private life. Enlarge image Katarina Witt made an Olympic comeback at the 1994 Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway. (© picture-alliance / ASA) Beginning in 1990, Witt performed with the American figure skater and two-time world champion Brian Boitano on tour. The show Witt and Boitano Skating was a great success and even sold out at New York’s Madison Square Garden, a feat that an ice show had not achieved in the previous decade. The duo continued to tour the US together for three years. In 1994, Katarina Witt returned to the competitive skating scene, coached once again by Jutta Mueller, and qualified for the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway.

Dressed in a dramatic, blood-red dress, Katarina performed an emotional piece to the anti-war ballad Where Have All the Flowers Gone in a new arrangement that Pete Seeger created with the help of internationally renowned conductor Kurt Masur. Her appearance in Lillehammer, however, was not just about the Olympics; Witt dedicated the performance to war-torn Sarajevo, the site of her first Olympic victory. Enlarge image Katarina Witt at a film premiere in 2009 (© picture-alliance/ dpa) Over the years, Katarina Witt, dubbed "the most beautiful face of socialism" by Time Magazine, has basked in the media limelight. When she posed for Playboy magazine in 1998, the issue became the magazine’s second ever sold-out issue; the first sold-out issue had featured Marilyn Monroe. Next to publishing her autobiography My Years between Compulsories and Freestyle and the book Only with Passion: Figure Skating’s Most Winning Champion on Competition and Life, Witt appeared in films like Jerry Maguire and Ronin and a variety of TV shows. She also produced her own films and TV shows and served as a figure skating commentator in the US and Germany.

In 1990, she received an Emmy Award for the HBO-Special Carmen on Ice, and later a nomination for The Ice Princess. In addition, she took part in Stars on Ice, the United States’ most prestigious ice show for over four years and hosted its German counterpart, Stars auf Ice – von und mit Katarina Witt. In 2008, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist, four-time World Champion, six-time European Champion, and eight-time National Champion Katarina Witt officially hung up her skates and ended her skating career. She remains quite active as a business woman and television personality as well as with her involvements in the Katarina Witt Foundation, a non-profit devoted to helping children. Earlier this year, it was announced that Witt will lead the board of trustees in Munich’s bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games. © Germany.info FanPal.com | Contact Katarina Witt | Write to Any Star Don't have an account yet? Join FanPal.com Today! Biography Katarina Witt (born 3 December 1965) is a retired German figure skater.

Witt won two Olympic gold medals for East Germany, first at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics and the second in 1988 at the Calgary Olympics. She is a four-time World champion (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988) and twice World silver medalist (1982, 1986). A feat only equalled by Sonja Henie among female skaters, Witt won six consecutive European Championships (1983-1988). Her competitive record makes her one of the most successful figure skaters of all time. Read more... Early life Witt was born in Staaken in East Germany, just outside West Berlin, which is today part of Berlin. Her mother worked in a hospital as a physiotherapist and her father was a farmer. She went to school in Karl-Marx-Stadt (which today has reverted to its pre-war name of Chemnitz). There she attended Kinder- und Jugendsportschule, a special school for athletically talented children:) Competitive career Witt represented the SC Karl-Marx-Stadt club for East Germany (GDR).

Jutta Müller began coaching her in 1977. Witt trained six days a week, sometimes for seven hours a day with three hours spent on compulsory figures. Witt made her first appearance in a major international competition at the 1979 European Championships, finishing 14th at the event. She placed on a major podium for the first time in 1982, winning silver at both the European and World Championships. The next season, she won her first European title but finished off the World podium in 4th place. In 1984, Witt was voted "GDR female athlete of the year" by the readers of the East German newspaper Junge Welt. She narrowly won the 1984 Olympic title in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, over the favoured contender, reigning World champion Rosalynn Sumners of the United States. Witt and Sumners held the top two spots heading into the Olympic free skate, which was worth 50% of the total score. Witt landed three triple jumps in her free skate program, and the judges left room for Sumners to win the event.

Sumners scaled back two of her jumps and Witt won the long program by one-tenth of a point on one judge's scorecard. Witt then went on to win her first World title. Witt successfully defended her World title in 1985 but placed second to American Debi Thomas the following year. In 1987, Witt won her third World title. Although Witt finished fifth in compulsory figures, which meant that Thomas could finish second in both the short and long programs and still retain the World title, Thomas' 7th place in the short program put the two skaters on a level playing field ahead of the free skate. Witt landed five triple jumps, including a triple loop jump. Although Thomas also skated a strong long program, Witt was ranked first by the majority of the nine judges and reclaimed the World title. In 1988, Witt won her sixth consecutive European Championship, equaling the achievement of Sonja Henie as the most successful skater in ladies' singles at the European Championships. Both Witt's and Henie's number of European titles have been surpassed since by Irina Slutskaya but Witt retains the record of most consecutive European titles, sharing it with Henie.

Both Witt and Thomas were favoured contenders at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. Their rivalry was known as the "Battle of the Carmens", as each woman had independently elected to skate her long program to music from Bizet's opera Carmen. They held the top two spots after the compulsory figures and the short program. Witt was third in the compulsories, behind Kira Ivanova and Thomas, before winning the short program with Thomas second. In her long program, Witt landed four triple jumps and downgraded her planned triple loop jump to a double loop. This left room for Thomas to win the long program, but Thomas missed three of her planned five triple jumps. Canadian skater Elizabeth Manley won the long program, but Witt retained her Olympic title based on her overall scores (she had finished ahead of Manley in both the compulsory figures and the short program). Witt became only the second woman in figure skating history (after Sonja Henie) to defend her Olympic title. To honour Witt and her win in Calgary, North Korea issued miniature sheets with three large pictures of Witt on the ice.

Time magazine called her "the most beautiful face of socialism." In 1988, Witt started a professional career - rare for East German athletes. She spent three years on tour in the United States with Brian Boitano , also an Olympic champion. Their show "Witt and Boitano Skating" was so successful that for the first time in ten years, New York's Madison Square Garden was sold out for an ice show. Later, she continued at Holiday on Ice in the United States and in western Europe. She also became an actress in the film Carmen on Ice (1989), which expanded upon her gold medal free program in Calgary. In 1990, she received an Emmy Award for her role in this film. In 1994, Witt made a comeback to the competitive skating scene, coached again by Jutta Müller. She finished second at the German Championships behind Tanja Szewczenko with Marina Kielmann third. Witt's first international competition for the reunified country of Germany, following eleven years competing for East Germany, was the 1994 European Championships, where she finished 8th, again ahead of Kielmann who was 9th.

She qualified for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, where she finished 7th. Her free program to the music “Sag mir wo die Blumen sind” (an arrangement of the Pete Seeger folksong "Where Have All the Flowers Gone") included a peace message for the people of Sarajevo, the site of her first Olympic victory. She received the Golden Camera for her Olympic comeback. Witt's taste in figure skating costumes sometimes caused debate. At the 1983 European Championships, she skated her Mozart short program in knee breeches instead of a skirt. Her blue skirtless feather-trimmed 1988 costume for a showgirl-themed short program was considered too theatrical and sexy, and led to a change in the ISU regulations dubbed the "Katarina rule" which required female skaters to wear more modest clothing including skirts that covered the buttocks and crotch. In 1994, skating a Robin Hood-themed program, she again pushed the boundaries of costume regulations by wearing a short tunic over leggings. In 1994, Witt published her autobiography Meine Jahre zwischen Pflicht und Kür (My Years between Compulsories and Freestyle).

In 1995, Witt was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Her farewell from show skating tour took place in February and March 2008. Post-skating career In 1996, Witt had a cameo role in the movie Jerry Maguire. She also starred in a German-language movie called Princess on Ice. Witt provided the vocals for the theme song, "Skate With Me". Witt appeared as herself in two episodes of the TV comedy series Arli$$ that aired in 1997 and 1998. Witt posed nude for Playboy magazine at age 32, and the pictures were published months later in the December 1998 issue (she turned 33 on 3 December), which was the second ever sold-out issue of the magazine. (The first sold-out issue was the inaugural one including photos of Marilyn Monroe .) Witt said she did not care for the "cute, pretty, ice princess image" of figure skaters and wanted to "change people's perceptions." In 1998, Witt appeared in the movie Ronin in a small supporting role with several lines of script.

Around this time, she also played a villain in an episode of the tongue-in-cheek television series, V.I.P. In November 2005, Witt published a novel, Only with Passion, in which she offers advice to a fictional young skater based on her many years of skating. Since October 2006, she has her own TV show, Stars auf Eis (Stars on Ice), on the German station ProSieben. She was invited to Istanbul as an honoured guest for the skating competition TV show called Buzda Dans (Dance on Ice) on 25 February 2007. On 3 December 2011, Witt was confirmed as a judge on the UK TV show, Dancing On Ice; she made her first appearance on 8 January 2012. On 7 July 2007, Witt was a compere at the German segment of Live Earth. She headed Munich's unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. In January 2013, Witt appeared on German TV in her first leading role, playing a figure skater who is pursued by a stalker.

The made-for-television movie Der Feind in meinem Leben (The enemy in my life) thus has autobiographical elements, as Witt herself had been stalked 20 years ago in the US. East German files Following the dissolution of East Germany, Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Stasi) files were found to show that the secret police had worked hard to keep Witt from defecting by giving her cars, accommodations, and permitted travel. Witt found 3,000 pages on her life from the age of eight. Programs Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Where Have All The Flowers Gone 1987-1988 2nd Bibliography Beisteiner, Johanna: Art music in figure skating, synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics / Kunstmusik in Eiskunstlauf, Synchronschwimmen und rhythmischer Gymnastik. PhD thesis by Johanna Beisteiner, Vienna 2005, (German). The PhD thesis contains an extensive description and analysis of Carmen on Ice (Chapter II/2, pages 105-162). Article about the PhD thesis of Johanna Beisteiner in the catalogue of the Austrian Library Network.

2005. (German and English) Katarina Witt - 必应 Sign in Katarina Witt Katarina Witt (born 3 December 1965) is a retired German figure skater. Witt won two Olympic gold medals for East Germany, first at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics and the second in 1988 at the Calgary Olympics. She is a four-time World champion (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988) and twice World silver medalist (1982, 1986). A feat only equalled by Sonja Henie among female skaters, Witt won six consecutive European Championships (1983–1988). Her competitive record makes her one of the most successful figure skaters of all time. Katarina Witt Early life Witt was born in Staaken in East Germany, just outside West Berlin, which is today part of Berlin. Her mother worked in a hospital as a physiotherapist and her father was a farmer. She went to school in Karl-Marx-Stadt (which today has reverted to its pre-war name of Chemnitz).

There she attended Kinder- und Jugendsportschule, a special school for athletically talented children:) Katarina Witt Competitive career Witt represented the SC Karl-Marx-Stadt club for East Germany (GDR). Jutta Müller began coaching her in 1977. Witt trained six days a week, sometimes for seven hours a day with three hours spent on compulsory figures. Witt made her first appearance in a major international competition at the 1979 European Championships, finishing 14th at the event. She placed on a major podium for the first time in 1982, winning silver at both the European and World Championships. The next season, she won her first European title but finished off the World podium in 4th place. In 1984, Witt was voted "GDR female athlete of the year" by the readers of the East German newspaper Junge Welt. She narrowly won the 1984 Olympic title in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, over the favoured contender, reigning World champion Rosalynn Sumners of the United States. Witt and Sumners held the top two spots heading into the Olympic free skate, which was worth 50% of the total score.

Witt landed three triple jumps in her free skate program, and the judges left room for Sumners to win the event. Sumners scaled back two of her jumps and Witt won the long program by one-tenth of a point on one judge's scorecard. Witt then went on to win her first World title. Witt successfully defended her World title in 1985 but placed second to American Debi Thomas the following year. In 1987, Witt won her third World title. Although Witt finished fifth in compulsory figures, which meant that Thomas could finish second in both the short and long programs and still retain the World title, Thomas' 7th place in the short program put the two skaters on a level playing field ahead of the free skate. Witt landed five triple jumps, including a triple loop jump. Although Thomas also skated a strong long program, Witt was ranked first by the majority of the nine judges and reclaimed the World title. In 1988, Witt won her sixth consecutive European Championship, equaling the achievement of Sonja Henie as the most successful skater in ladies' singles at the European Championships.

Both Witt's and Henie's number of European titles have been surpassed since by Irina Slutskaya but Witt retains the record of most consecutive European titles, sharing it with Henie. Both Witt and Thomas were favoured contenders at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. Their rivalry was known as the "Battle of the Carmens", as each woman had independently elected to skate her long program to music from Bizet's opera Carmen. They held the top two spots after the compulsory figures and the short program. Witt was third in the compulsories, behind Kira Ivanova and Thomas, before winning the short program with Thomas second. In her long program, Witt landed four triple jumps and downgraded her planned triple loop jump to a double loop. This left room for Thomas to win the long program, but Thomas missed three of her planned five triple jumps. Canadian skater Elizabeth Manley won the long program, but Witt retained her Olympic title based on her overall scores (she had finished ahead of Manley in both the compulsory figures and the short program). Witt became only the second woman in figure skating history (after Sonja Henie) to defend her Olympic title.

To honour Witt and her win in Calgary, North Korea issued miniature sheets with three large pictures of Witt on the ice. Time magazine called her "the most beautiful face of socialism." In 1988, Witt started a professional career – rare for East German athletes. She spent three years on tour in the United States with Brian Boitano, also an Olympic champion. Their show "Witt and Boitano Skating" was so successful that for the first time in ten years, New York's Madison Square Garden was sold out for an ice show. Later, she continued at Holiday on Ice in the United States and in western Europe. She also became an actress in the film Carmen on Ice (1989), which expanded upon her gold medal free program in Calgary. In 1990, she received an Emmy Award for her role in this film. In 1994, Witt made a comeback to the competitive skating scene, coached again by Jutta Müller. She finished second at the German Championships behind Tanja Szewczenko with Marina Kielmann third.

Witt's first international competition for the reunified country of Germany, following eleven years competing for East Germany, was the 1994 European Championships, where she finished 8th, again ahead of Kielmann who was 9th. She qualified for the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, where she finished 7th. Her free program to the music “Sag mir wo die Blumen sind” (an arrangement of the Pete Seeger folksong "Where Have All the Flowers Gone") included a peace message for the people of Sarajevo, the site of her first Olympic victory. She received the Golden Camera for her Olympic comeback. Witt's taste in figure skating costumes sometimes caused debate. At the 1983 European Championships, she skated her Mozart short program in knee breeches instead of a skirt. Her blue skirtless feather-trimmed 1988 costume for a showgirl-themed short program was considered too theatrical and sexy, and led to a change in the ISU regulations dubbed the "Katarina rule" which required female skaters to wear more modest clothing including skirts that covered the buttocks and crotch.

In 1994, skating a Robin Hood-themed program, she again pushed the boundaries of costume regulations by wearing a short tunic over leggings.[citation needed] In 1994, Witt published her autobiography Meine Jahre zwischen Pflicht und Kür (My Years between Compulsories and Freestyle). In 1995, Witt was inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Her farewell from show skating tour took place in February and March 2008. Katarina Witt Personal life Following the dissolution of East Germany, Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (Stasi) files were found to show that the secret police had worked hard to keep Witt from defecting by giving her cars, accommodations, and permitted travel. Witt found 3,000 pages on her life from the age of eight. In 1996, Witt had a cameo role in the movie Jerry Maguire. She also starred in a German-language movie called Princess on Ice. Witt provided the vocals for the theme song, "Skate With Me". Witt appeared as herself in two episodes of the TV comedy series Arli$$ that aired in 1997 and 1998.

Witt posed nude for Playboy magazine at age 32, and the pictures were published months later in the December 1998 issue (she turned 33 on 3 December), which was the second ever sold-out issue of the magazine. (The first sold-out issue was the inaugural one including photos of Marilyn Monroe.) Witt said she did not care for the "cute, pretty, ice princess image" of figure skaters and wanted to "change people's perceptions." In 1998, Witt appeared in the movie Ronin in a small supporting role with several lines of script. Around this time, she also played a villain in an episode of the tongue-in-cheek television series, V.I.P. In November 2005, Witt published a novel, Only with Passion, in which she offers advice to a fictional young skater based on her many years of skating. Since October 2006, she has her own TV show, Stars auf Eis (Stars on Ice), on the German station ProSieben. She was invited to Istanbul as an honoured guest for the skating competition TV show called Buzda Dans (Dance on Ice) on 25 February 2007.

On 3 December 2011, Witt was confirmed as a judge on the UK TV show, Dancing On Ice; she made her first appearance on 8 January 2012. On 7 July 2007, Witt was a compere at the German segment of Live Earth. She headed Munich's unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. In January 2013, Witt appeared on German TV in her first leading role, playing a figure skater who is pursued by a stalker. The made-for-television movie Der Feind in meinem Leben (The enemy in my life) thus has autobiographical elements, as Witt herself had been stalked 20 years ago in the US. Katarina Witt References ^ Johnson, Rafer (2009). Great Athletes. Salem Press. p.1213. ISBN9781587654862. ^ a b c d McBride, Lorraine (25 March 2012). "Dancing on Ice judge Katarina Wit talks money". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 November 2012.

^ a b Witt, Katarina (24 March 2012). "The Stasi watched my every move: Dancing on Ice star Katarina Witt reveals East German secret police spied on her since the age of eight". Daily Mail. ^ USSR Philately (in Russian) (Moscow) (7): 1. July 1989. ISSN0130-5689. Missing or empty |title= (help) — photo of this postage block ^ Hoyt, Alia. "How Competitive Figure Skating Works". ^ Muther, Christopher. "The ice rink becomes the runway for female figure skaters". ^ Paterson, Tony (5 May 2002). "Stasi files reveal Katarina Witt was willing accomplice". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009. ^ McD, Mike. "The 40 Hottest Female Athletes Of The Decade". ^ "Judging panel revealed for the new series of Dancing On Ice.". ITV. 2 December 2011. ^ "". Retrieved 2015-11-11.

External link in |title= (help) ^ "Kati Witt spielt Stalking-Opfer im TV (German)". Focus. 23 January 2013. ^ "Interview with Katarina Witt – Stalking, Hollywood und zu viele Pfunde (German)". Tagesspiegel. 23 January 2013.

Question: Which East German ice skater was 1984 Olympic Champion and by 1990 had won four World Titles?
Answer: KATARINA WITT