Katarina Witt

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Katarina Witt figure skating
Katarina Witt, 2014
Katarina Witt, 2014
nation Germany Democratic Republic 1949GDR German Democratic Republic of Germany
GermanyGermany 
birthday December 3, 1965
place of birth Falkensee, Nauen District, German Democratic Republic
size 166 cm
Career
discipline Single run
Trainer Jutta Müller
status resigned
Medal table
Olympic medals 2 × gold 0 × silver 0 × bronze
World Cup medals 4 × gold 2 × silver 0 × bronze
EM medals 6 × gold 1 × silver 0 × bronze
Olympic rings winter Olympics
gold Sarajevo 1984 Ladies
gold Calgary 1988 Ladies
ISU World figure skating championships
silver Copenhagen 1982 Ladies
gold Ottawa 1984 Ladies
gold Tokyo 1985 Ladies
silver Geneva 1986 Ladies
gold Cincinnati 1987 Ladies
gold Budapest 1988 Ladies
ISU European figure skating championships
silver Lyon 1982 Ladies
gold Dortmund 1983 Ladies
gold Budapest 1984 Ladies
gold Gothenburg 1985 Ladies
gold Copenhagen 1986 Ladies
gold Sarajevo 1987 Ladies
gold Prague 1988 Ladies
 

Katarina Witt (born December 3, 1965 in Falkensee ) is a former German figure skater who started in a single run for the GDR and after German unification for Germany . She was twice Olympic champion (1984, 1988) and multiple world champion (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988). Since ending her career, she has been working as an actress and presenter .

Career

Witt was born in Staaken in what was then West Staaken , which belonged to Falkensee from 1961 to 1969 . Her mother came to Nauen in 1947 as a displaced person from Western Pomerania and her father was a Bessarabian German resettler who came to Kleineichstädt via Poland in 1945 . Katarina Witt received her school and sports training at the Karl-Marx-Städter Children's and Youth Sports School , the current Sports High School in Chemnitz . From 1977 she trained under Jutta Müller at SC Karl-Marx-Stadt .

Career

competitive sport

Katarina Witt at the GDR championship in 1982

In 1979, Witt reached the podium for the first time at the GDR championships . She finished third behind Anett Pötzsch and Carola Weißenberg and took part in the 1979 European Figure Skating Championships in Zagreb . The following year she was runner-up in the GDR behind Pötzsch and tenth at the 1980 World Figure Skating Championships in Dortmund . After Pötzsch became Olympic champion, world champion and European champion in 1980, she ended her career and Witt won her first GDR championship title in 1981 , which she was able to defend until 1988. Both at the European Championships in Innsbruck and at the World Championships in Hartford , she reached fifth place.

In 1982 she became vice European champion in Lyon behind the Austrian Claudia Kristofics-Binder and then in Copenhagen vice world champion behind the US-American Elaine Zayak . In 1983, Witt became European Champion in Dortmund . At the World Championships in Helsinki she took fourth place after the American Rosalynn Sumners , Claudia Leistner from the Federal Republic of Germany and Jelena Wodoresowa from the Soviet Union, after she was ahead in the short program and freestyle, but only reached eighth place in duty .

In 1984 Witt won her second European Championship title in Budapest and the gold medal at her first Olympic Games in Sarajevo . There the reigning world champion Rosalynn Sumners was favored, who also won the duty, Witt achieved third place there. She won the short program, which Sumners finished fifth. In the freestyle, Witt managed three triple jumps, Sumners at the end showed a planned triple toe loop only twice and a planned double axel only once. Witt decided the freestyle with five to four judges votes and 0.2 points difference just for himself and became Olympic champion .

At the subsequent world championship in Ottawa , Witt also managed to win her first world championship title. There she won the compulsory, the short program and the freestyle. Like her compatriot Anett Pötzsch four years earlier, Witt had all the titles in the Olympic year.

In 1985 she became European champion for the third time in a row in Gothenburg and world champion for the second time in Tokyo , both times ahead of Kira Iwanowa from the Soviet Union. In 1986 Witt again won the gold medal at the European Championships , but had to admit defeat to the American Debi Thomas at the World Championships in Geneva . In 1987 she was able to win both big tournaments again, in Sarajevo she became European champion and at the world championships in Cincinnati she won ahead of Debi Thomas. She ran the strongest freestyle of her career. She landed five triple jumps, including a triple Rittberger .

Katarina Witt in the freestyle at the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary as Carmen

In 1988 Witt won her sixth European championship title in a row in Prague , and Kira Iwanowa became vice European champion for the fourth time in a row. At the Olympic Games in Calgary , Witt and Thomas were considered favorites. It came to the "Battle of the Carmens", as the press called the duel, as both figure skaters performed their freestyle to music from Georges Bizet's opera Carmen . Witt finished the compulsory in third place, one place behind Thomas, but won the short program before Thomas, so both were about the same and the freestyle brought the decision: Witt showed four triple jumps, the Rittberger only twice. Thomas missed three of her planned five triple jumps. The Canadian Elizabeth Manley was the best in the freestyle, but in the end the freestyle victory was not enough for her and Witt was just about Olympic champion. She was the second figure skater after Sonja Henie to repeat her Olympic title .

At the end of her career, she won her fourth world championship title at the World Championships in Budapest , just like at the Olympic Games, ahead of Manley and Thomas. Katarina Witt was thus the dominant figure skater of the eighties. With two Olympic victories , four world championship titles and six European championship titles, she is one of the most successful figure skaters in the history of figure skating .

Witt and the GDR

Witt was a prominent sportswoman in the GDR and was viewed by the government as a representative and figurehead of the country; she met Erich Honecker and Egon Krenz personally . She was an officer in the NVA , a member of the FDJ and the SED . In 2001 she told the news magazine Der Spiegel that she was “convinced of this state”. In this medium she was also referred to as the most beautiful face of socialism . Witt was under intensive observation by the Ministry for State Security and was monitored and spied on by IM Ingo Steuer , among others ; her apartment was bugged and her phone was tapped. At the same time, however, she also received benefits from the state. In addition to exceptional material preferences, these went so far that the State Security ensured that Witt regained her driver's license, which she had previously lost because of driving too fast. After she had withdrawn a lawsuit against the publication of 181 pages of her Stasi files by the then Federal Commissioner for the Stasi files , Marianne Birthler, in 2001, various media referred to the files, after which she received material donations from the Stasi again and again receive. For example, the daily newspaper Die Welt reported , quoting from the files, of a VW Golf (the Stasi could not fulfill Witt's request for a VW bus, and the Golf , which was equipped with elaborate special equipment, became a second after an accident caused by Witt Sometimes worried) as well as various apartments that were provided to her. In addition, according to Der Spiegel, a passport with a visa to the West was made available to her. Witt turned against these representations in part; Although she received minor benefits such as a dishwasher , she paid rent for the apartments. In addition, she denied the classification of the Federal Commissioner for the Stasi files, that she appears in the files as a “beneficiary” of the Stasi.

Holiday on Ice and The Ice Princess

After Witt had finished her competitive sports activities at the beginning of 1988, she began studying acting, but did not earn a degree. She then became a UNICEF special ambassador.

After all, she began her professional career, which was very unusual for GDR athletes at the time, in July 1988 with a brief guest appearance at Holiday on Ice against foreign currency and then toured the major ice shows in North America for more than ten years.

Witt has also worked in various films, such as in 1989 she played with Brian Boitano and Brian Orser in Carmen on Ice , for which she received an Emmy , The Ice Princess (1996), which she co-produced, and Ronin (1998).

Title role, text and music for the film Die Eisprinzessin came from Diether Dehm , who from 1989 had also taken over her management and media consultancy. As early as 1988 they hosted a concert with 120,000 visitors at the Berlin Radrennbahn Weißensee , where stars such as Hannes Wader , the Bots , City , Heinz Rudolf Kunze , Big Country and Bryan Adams performed and Katarina Witt was whistled by the audience. The Stasi attributed the whistles to the fact that Witt was not wearing an FDJ shirt.

Comeback at the Olympics

In 1994, after an unprecedented re-amateurization, she made a comeback as an Olympian. She trained again with Jutta Müller and took part in the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer , where she finished seventh. She had previously finished eighth at the European Championships . In the same year her autobiography My Years Between Duty and Freestyle was published . When Witt had nudes made for Playboy magazine in 1998 , this was the second time that the magazine was sold out worldwide after an issue with Marilyn Monroe . Since 1991 she has been producing figure skating and television shows in the USA and Europe together with her long-time manager Elisabeth Gottmann as the company Art & Promotion based in Frankfurt / Main. In addition, they sell jewelry collections under this label, which Katarina Witt is involved in designing.

Witt was also a juror at Let's Dance on RTL and produced the ice skating show series Stars on Ice for ProSieben . In February and March 2008 she gave her farewell tour. From January to February 2009 she was the presenter for the slimming game show The Biggest Loser on ProSieben. In October 2009 she appeared (with Herbert Feuerstein and Robert Kreis ) as “Buhlschaft” in the production of Jedermann in the Berlin Cathedral. In 2010 she became head of presentation for Munich's application for the 2018 Winter Olympics . In the film The Enemy in My Life , shot by Sat.1 in 2012 , she took on the lead role as a victim of stalking.

Results

Competition / year 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1994
winter Olympics 1. 1. 7th
World championships 10. 5. 2. 4th 1. 1. 2. 1. 1.
European championships 14th 13. 5. 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 8th.
GDR championships 3. 2. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1.
German championships 2.

Katarina Witt Foundation

Katarina Witt (right) as laudator for the Special Olympics athlete Teresa Breuer, Sportswoman of the Year 2013

In 2005 she initiated the Katarina Witt Foundation gGmbH based in Brandenburg an der Havel . Under the motto "Moving more together", the company primarily helps children in the areas of disaster relief, medical care and sports promotion. On the one hand, it helps disabled children in particular to regain or increase their mobility by supporting sports projects. On the other hand, the company oversees projects through which children receive medical care, e.g. B. after injuries caused by land mines , as well as in children with birth defects (e.g. cleft or clubfoot children ). With appeals for donations, a website and personal appearances at benefit events such as Ein Herz für Kinder , Witt personally solicits support. The business journalist Stefan Loipfinger threw the gGmbH u. a. Lack of transparency, what this rejected.

Personal

Katarina Witt is not married and has no children. She was in love with Ingo Politz , Richard Dean Anderson , Rolf Brendel and Danny Huston, among others . She does not deny reports of a long-term relationship with media lawyer Christian Schertz when asked directly.

Witt is still promoting events that have to do with figure skating. In December 2015 she opened the new Disney ice show The Fantastic Journey in Dortmund's Westfalenhalle .

honors and awards

Filmography

Movies

  • 1990: Carmen on Ice (TV movie)
  • 1994: Greatest Hits on Ice (TV movie)
  • 1996: The Ice Princess (TV movie)
  • 1996: Making of Die Eisprinzessin (Documentation by Tim Lienhard)
  • 1998: Ronin
  • 2009: Mullewapp - The great cinema adventure of friends (speaking role)
  • 2013: The Enemy In My Life (TV Movie, As Herself)
  • 2013: The Diplomat (documentary about her) directed by Jennifer Arnold and Senain Kheshgi
  • 2016: Katarina Witt - A journey to me (documentation) Script and direction: Beate Bossdorf

Guest appearances and cameos

Moderation

Publications

literature

Web links

Commons : Katarina Witt  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "I was best when I stood with my back to the wall" in Die Zeit from April 2, 2015
  2. ↑ a b Steffen Winter: West-Eastern Diva. In: Der Spiegel. No. 2, 2009, p. 88.
  3. ^ A b Klaus Brinkbäumer, Georg Mascolo: Weighty alliance. In: Der Spiegel. No. 22, 2001, p. 71.
  4. ↑ Katarina Witt: "The most beautiful face of socialism" In: Der Spiegel, May 27, 2001. Retrieved July 27, 2020
  5. ^ Günther Lachmann, Ralf Georg Reuth: The Stasi files of Katarina Witt. In: welt.de . May 12, 2002, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  6. ↑ Katarina Witt: "Stasi has not contributed anything to my career". In: Spiegel Online . June 18, 2002, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  7. ^ VG Berlin: Stasi documents - Katarina Witt's urgent procedure successful. In: Journal of Property and Real Estate Law. No. 4, 2002, p. 207.
  8. ↑ ND archive: June 20th, 1988: Over 120,000 enthusiastic listeners experienced a thrilling rock concert. In: nd-archiv.de. June 20, 1988, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  9. ↑ Alexander Osang: Kati Witt: The files from the Ice Age. In: Spiegel Online . April 29, 2002, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Chronicle of the Turning Point ; Katarina Witt , accessed on May 29, 2018.
  11. ↑ Barbara Jänichen: How Katharina Witt dances on the table. In: morgenpost.de. October 15, 2009, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  12. ↑ Now Witt should bring the 2018 Olympics to Munich. In: welt.de . September 7, 2010, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  13. ↑ nw / DPA / DPA: Katarina Witt on Sat.1: Figure skater takes the main role as a victim of stalking. In: stern.de . August 15, 2012, accessed December 3, 2015 . Stalker presses Katarina Witt: The Olympic champion is shooting for SAT.1 of the event movie “The Destiny”. In: presseportal.de. September 14, 2012, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  14. ↑ http://www.katarina-witt-stiftung.de/
  15. ↑ Matthias Wolf: Where foundation donations are used for PR purposes. In: Zeit Online . Zeit Online GmbH, December 22, 2012, accessed on December 24, 2012 .
  16. ↑ Press release by Katarina Witt on allegations against her foundation. In: de.nachrichten.yahoo.com. December 22, 2011, archived from the original on December 8, 2015 ; Retrieved December 3, 2015 . Press release by Katarina Witt on allegations against her foundation. In: presseportal.de. December 22, 2012, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Confessed: Katarina Witt is happy even without her own children Morgenpost.de January 24, 2011
  18. ↑ Why does Kati Witt's love melt so quickly? In: bz-berlin.de. June 24, 2008, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  19. ↑ F. v. Mutius: Kati Witt has a new king of hearts in the game of love. In: welt.de . June 12, 2004, accessed December 3, 2015 .
  20. ↑ Ulrike Posche and Kester Schlenz: Interview on the 50th birthday: "My job is to be Katarina Witt!" In: stern.de . December 3, 2015, accessed April 19, 2016 .
  21. ↑ Disney on Ice. Kati Witt came to Dortmund , accessed on May 29, 2018.
  22. ^ 1988 Bambi Awards , accessed February 13, 2015.
  23. ↑ Homage to Katarina Witt 1988
  24. ↑ JPL Small-Body Database Browser: 36800 Katarinawitt (2000 SF45) , Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  25. ^ Voters should vote on the Olympics sueddeutsche.de September 27, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Witt, Katarina
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German figure skater, two-time Olympic champion
DATE OF BIRTH December 3, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH West Staaken , municipality of Falkensee