Katarina at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary
Today Katarina is a producer, actress, and founder of a charity
Katarina Witt was born on December 3, 1965 in East Germany and is still alive today. She was a figure skater who dominated figure skating for almost a decade. Katarina began skating at the age of 5 and she quickly gained the attention of sports officials. Though her parents were too poor to pay for her training, one of the world most successful coaches recognized her talent and started working with her at age 9. In addition to training, she went to a special school for athletes where she was weighed twice a day and starved if her weight was not acceptable. In other words, skating controlled her life. In 1981, she won her first major competition, the East German national championship, and she held that title for the next seven years. In 1982, Katarina finished second at the world championships in Copenhagen. At 18 years old, she won her first gold medal tasking it from the reigning American champion at the time by a tenth of a point at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympic Winter Games. Also in 1984, Katarina won her first world championship title, and the biggest selling newspaper in East Germany declared her East Germany’s athlete of the year. Moreover, other people outside of figure skating began to notice Katarina because she was one of the first to push the boundaries with figure skating outfits by making them more revealing. When she was starting to get noticed, she started dating a member of a rock band and the Stasi, the ministry for state security in East Germany, tried to break them up because they thought that this relationship would intervene with her important skating career. In 1985, she wins the world championship again, but the next year Katarina loses the title to an American. Because she came in second, the East German sports federation wrote her a letter stating how important it was that she won first place. Furthermore, the Stasi asked her to attend meetings so that they could keep an eye on her and so she could continue to succeed in her public figure skating career. In 1987, Katarina regained her world championship title by performing the strongest and longest performance of her career. In 1988, she held on to that title and also won her sixth consecutive European championship. This was very impressive as this feat had not been achieved for over half a century. Also in that same year, she won her second gold medal at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. Later on in 1990, she started acting and won an Emmy for her starring role in the movie Carmen on Ice. After her career in figure skating ended, she founded a production agency, worked as a figure skating expert during world championships and Olympic Games, has written various books, and started her own charity to provide aid for children and teens with disabilities.
Sources:
http://www.olympic.org/katarina-witt
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/katarina-witt.html
http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/katarina-witt.html
http://en.katarina-witt.de/