“I am sure that many years will pass before any of the figure skaters will be able to repeat my Olympic success,” said Katarina Witt in Calgary, on the day of her second Olympic victory. “After all, I managed to achieve such a result only 52 years after the famous Sonia Henie."
I think that the athlete from the GDR was then guided not only by a sober assessment of the difficulty of what she had accomplished, but also by pride, the legitimate pride of a person who had reached the highest peaks in sports.
There were not many who questioned Witt's success, and yet her second Olympic gold medal was not easy for her. The dispute with Debi Thomas from the USA, lost at the World Championships in Geneva-86, then won in 1987 in Cincinnati, seemed to escalate to the limit by the Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada. And on the decisive day, when the skaters were performing a free program, Katarina performed a double loop instead of a triple loop. She made the task a little easier in this most difficult jump for her, and the thought immediately flashed: “That’s it. If Thomas does everything cleanly, the gold is in her pocket.”
But it’s not without reason that they say that in addition to all the advantages, an athlete also needs a little luck. Fortune saved her smile for Katarina. The main duel of the Olympic figure skating tournament was to take place between Witt and Thomas, two Carmen (their compositions were on the same theme and similar in music: Wiese - Shchedrin - for the GDR champion, Wiese - for the US champion). But Thomas’s nerves could not stand it - she made a number of mistakes and, having taken only fourth place on the decisive day, was ultimately content with the bronze award.
In addition, one of the hostesses of the Olympics, Canadian figure skater Elizabeth Manley, intervened in the dispute, winning in free skating and receiving silver as a reward.
And the 22-year-old two-time Olympic champion completed the Olympic competition course extremely smoothly. She was third in the “school”, first in the short program and second in the free program, once again proving that in the all-around the winner is the one who is strong enough in all its components.
“I still turned out to be stronger,” Katarina said, not without defiance. “To accurately perform all the jumps, you need to have extraordinary self-control. I was unable to avoid a mistake, and Debi turned out to be completely out of shape. No, she is an ordinary person, not a miracle at all.”
Is Katarina herself a miracle?
Tens of thousands of her fans will answer this question with an unequivocal “yes.”
She arrived in Calgary as a recognized favorite - the owner of six European crowns and three world ones. The Olympic figure skating tournament was called the “Katharina Witt Olympics.” Contrary to the opinion that has developed in recent years that the women's part of the program is the most boring, there were no empty seats in the Olympic Saddledome during women's competitions. Long before the triumphant finale, Katarina was perhaps the most popular person in Calgary. Press conferences and entire newspaper pages were dedicated to her; she gave interviews and many autographs; Perfume and cosmetics companies sought to get her, offering tempting contracts in advance; ubiquitous newspapermen seriously claimed that Calgary’s favorite two-time Olympic champion, Italian alpine skier Alberto Tomba, was crazy about the beautiful Katya and was ready to offer her his hand and heart.
Naturally, not everyone liked this, especially representatives of the American press, who were interested in the popularity of their contender for the championship title and in her victory. They tried to unsettle Witt with small jabs in the absence of serious arguments. Here is one of the passages dedicated to Witt, an Associated Press correspondent: “Sequins on the suit and hairpins, power and composure, talent and complete mobility, triple jumps and a magnificent step sequence. Lips and hips, legs and eyes... The world champion brilliantly knows how to show all her advantages over her rivals. And here, in Calgary, she will, of course, try to prove that in all respects she is the best in the world.
But let's get back to her appearance. Her clothes simply have a killer effect on the public, and the athlete herself does whatever she wants, not only with the public, but also with the judges. This, naturally, causes her to be disliked by her rivals and their coaches.
“We came here to compete in figure skating, and not to show the public seductive body parts,” one of these coaches told reporters with disapproval, hinting at Witt’s costume for a short program in which she portrays a show girl.
“When I put on a suit that fully matches my composition, I feel much better,” Witt retorted. “And then, why can’t I emphasize what is actually attractive?”
And she does it, and it works for her.”
You can, of course, try to explain the success of an outstanding athlete in this way. And, probably, to some extent, a popular name, reputation, and demeanor “work” for the athlete. But this, of course, is not what determines success.
No, she's not a miracle. She is a person who has set a goal for herself and dedicated her life to achieving it, who has concentrated all her strength and abilities, a person who does not allow herself any indulgences.
Here she is at the start. Not a shadow of visible excitement, complete composure, concentration, dispassion... And only when the job is done, the program is “worked out”, she allows herself a surge of emotions...
Here she is walking down the backstage aisle. A strict suit, a sleek hairstyle (though not without the most fashionable details), smart, elegant, shoulders turned, back straight - full consciousness of one’s own attractiveness and dignity...
Here she is giving an interview. Seriously, thoughtfully answers questions, only occasionally allowing himself a joke or a smile, but how witty the remark is, how radiant the smile...
You can talk about technique and skill, about the artistry and charm of different figure skaters. But when it comes to the struggle for primacy between two approximately equal people, the ability to control oneself still comes to the fore. The Olympic figure skating tournament in Calgary convincingly confirmed this.
After all, just half an hour before Thomas’s start, the Olympic champion gave her every opportunity to get the coveted “gold”, having lost the free program competition. And yet, the American only had to bitterly regret that she failed to take advantage of the chance given to her by her rival. “It wasn’t my day,” Debi tried to justify herself. “After the first not entirely successful cascade, I felt that my legs had betrayed me, they had become strangers. I couldn't make them obey..."
Couldn't force her to obey. Witt would not allow her legs to behave in such a wayward manner.
Few people expected to see a new “battle” between Witt and Thomas after the Olympics - at the world championship in Budapest: the athletes gave too much effort in Calgary, and all the i’s had already been dotted. Thomas, with characteristic candor, said that four minutes of her final at the Olympics seemed like a nightmare. “I'm glad it's finally over. “I can’t think about figure skating anymore, I’m going back to school and I want to live in peace.”
But she still wouldn’t be an athlete if she hadn’t tried one last time to challenge her opponent.
The capital of Hungary in March 1988 saw a new dispute between the two Carmens. The Olympic plot repeated itself. The podium at the Budapest Sports Palace was an exact copy of the Olympic one.
At the figure skaters’ training before the last start in Budapest, they played the music “Carmen” for Thomas. Everyone left the road, except for the second Carmen. Debi started skating, Katya was skating quietly closer to the side. At first I skated, then I started seriously. Debi had enough endurance for two minutes. She left the ice. Katya finished the program. Like this!
Who is Katharina Witt?
Katarina was born on December 3, 1965. Her hometown is Karl-Marx-Stadt, famous for its figure skating school, headed by the famous Jutta Müller, who trained Gabi Seifert, Jan Hoffmann, Anette Petch - athletes who shone on the international stage in different years.
At the age of five, while walking with her parents, she passed by the skating rink and stopped to watch the children skate. She liked the nimble, dexterous children so much that she irresistibly wanted to try it herself. She persuaded her parents to let her go on the ice. Having received consent and skates to boot, she came to the skating rink, hobbled out to the middle “and felt that this was mine” - this is how she told about her beginning. Nevertheless, a lot of time passed before it became clear that a new talented girl had appeared among the young figure skaters of the GDR. And, of course, Frau Jutta became her mentor, and the winner of the 1980 Olympics, Anette Petch, trained nearby on the same site.
The first great success came to 15-year-old Katya in 1981, when she first became the champion of her country. Since then, no one has been able to challenge her for this title. In 1983 - the first success at the European Championship, and again for many years, and in 1984 - victory at the world figure skating championship.
One of the brightest moments in the life of an athlete was the gold medal in the Olympic Sarajevo-84, another was revenge in Cincinnati-87 for the defeat at the 1986 World Championships in Geneva, where Thomas was successful.
However, the Geneva failure was not in vain. She helped Katarina learn a useful lesson for the future.
“Every athlete, in my opinion, should sometimes receive such lessons,” she said. “If it weren’t for Geneva, I might never have been able to get rid of some of the learned stereotypes.” I would not doubt the correctness of the chosen style and would not be able to reach a new level of creativity.
Indeed, in the 1987 season, figure skating fans saw a completely different, updated Witt. Accustomed to the rational manner of the figure skater, highly technical, but not particularly expressive and, it seemed, not possessing bright artistry, spectators and specialists suddenly discovered in “Iron Katarina” “Katarina the Beautiful,” a feminine, charming modern girl who possesses not only the entire arsenal of technical and dance techniques, but also able to ignite the audience with a surge of emotions, genuine fun, freedom and relaxedness.
Does the two-time Olympic champion have secrets?
“No,” she claims. - There are no secrets. There is only a way to live and train. Of course, you also need a little luck. But success always depends on how you work, how much and how well you train, and not at all on whether you are lucky or, say, whether you have a famous coach. However, I was really lucky with my coach. She's like a mother to me. I always turn to her when any problems arise, and there has never been a time when she did not give me good advice. We have a very warm relationship. I love her, admire her and will always admire her...
She inherited grace and a love of dancing from her mother, musicality and a love of singing from her father, who has a good voice. “But without a clear goal and perseverance, these qualities were unlikely to be worth anything,” says Katarina. “I always knew what I wanted and achieved it.”
Of course, like every person, sometimes she wanted more to have fun, go out of town or do something else more enjoyable than training. There were times when the desire to throw away your boots and skates became almost irresistible, especially in the summer, when the upcoming season seems so far away...
On March 26, 1988, she took to the ice for the last time to leave it forever. On this day, a huge crowd of fans, eager for an autograph, was waiting for her at the exit from the Sports Palace in Budapest. She signed cards for several dozen lucky people and left, accompanied by “Mama Jutta,” to the hotel.
What will Katarina do now?
First of all, he will continue his studies at the Berlin School of Dramatic Art.
- I don’t know yet whether I will become an actress, singer, television announcer or something else. I want to try my luck at both, and then choose what will give me the same pleasure as figure skating. I can’t imagine how you can do without spectators. I always received a charge of energy from them, I felt my unity with them. I admit that I don’t want to lose fame. I don’t want someone to meet me one day and say, “Aren’t you the same figure skater that was once famous?”
I am and I will be. I hope I’ll even be more famous than I am now.
KATHARINA WITT, the “princess on ice” as she was often called in the press, will celebrate her fortieth birthday this year. A two-time Olympic champion, four-time world champion, winner of six gold medals in European championships, Katarina now creates her own “ice shows,” comments on figure skating competitions, and does business. And, according to a recent survey of readers of the German newspaper Bild, he ranks 16th in the list of the most beautiful people in Germany.
WE MEETED at her favorite cafe "Oranium" in the center of East Berlin. Every now and then they approached Katarina for autographs...
During my last trip to Moscow, when I was going through passport control at the airport, a border guard asked: “Aren’t you that famous figure skater?” I am still haunted by my sports career. However, even though I do other things at the same time, with the greatest joy I do what I did when I was a little girl - ice skating. In Germany, unfortunately, today there are no famous names with which the country would identify itself.
Why do you think that is?
During my youth, our entire system supported young athletes and allowed them to achieve great success. Living conditions in the GDR were the same for everyone, and everyone received the same. But not in sports. In this sense, big sport in our socialist system was oriented “toward capitalism.” I studied at a sports school, and the school program was coordinated with my individual training plan. I could afford to train seven hours a day. And today a young athlete must choose between school and sports. Three hours a day for training after school is very little. In addition, young people now have many other opportunities through which they can advance.
7 hours a day - for training, while others - at the cinema or with friends... Was it a conscious “sacrifice” or did your parents force you?
When I was very little, I often watched what was happening at the skating rink, which was located next to my kindergarten. At the age of five I started asking my parents to send me to the figure skating section. I begged until my mother took me there. I can't say that training for many hours was a sacrifice. I received a lot in return and only benefited from it.
How was your relationship with your coach Jutta Müller?
She “discovered” me at the age of 9. And she worked with me until I turned 28. Our relationship changed. Sometimes we were like two friends, sometimes she was my mentor, sometimes she replaced my parents. She was very strict. Yes, a coach cannot be a friend. I respected her and was a little afraid. I had a feeling for her that was similar to love... turning into hatred and back. But if she had not been so strict, without her knowledge, without her passionate energy, I would not have achieved what I have achieved. Often you come to great results through “pain”... We now regularly call each other, she is dedicated to my personal life. I learned a lot from Jutta Müller. She lives deep in my heart, but at the same time we are still on first name terms.
To be a famous person in the GDR meant that one could not avoid the close attention of the special services to one’s person...
The intelligence services started watching me at the age of nine, as soon as my talent was noticed. I didn’t know then that I was being followed. I first discovered surveillance when I was 18. But I naively believed that they were guarding me so that nothing would happen to me. And I learned that they were employees of internal intelligence services much later, when I had the opportunity to familiarize myself with my personal file from the Stasi archives. It never even occurred to me then that they were deliberately watching me so that I would not escape to the West.
By the way, why didn't you do this?
I was so grateful to my country and people. I understood that I would never have had the success I had in the GDR. Besides, if I ended up in the West, I wouldn’t be able to see my parents. And you know, there is no such check and no amount that would “outweigh” this. Even freedom was not a good enough reason for me.
Now I already understand that my state used me. At that time we did not have access to other ideologies. I couldn't appreciate freedom because I didn't know it. But I passionately stood for our system. I was proud to come abroad, where I had to represent my country.
Yes, I grew up in the GDR and, naturally, believed in those ideals. But I also learned the things that shaped me. And then, my life was not like that of most people from the GDR. I had a lot of privileges. Sometimes it seems to me that now I live on some other planet.
In the Soviet Union, athletes were forced to give cash bonuses to the state, but what was the situation with this in the GDR?
We had cash prizes, for example, for winning the Olympics, but there was no access to them. The funds were transferred to the federation’s account, the athlete could receive them partially, that is, a certain percentage of this money, when he left big sport. One day I received a small gold coin as a reward, and they allowed me to keep it. Thanks to the awards, the federation had the opportunity to influence athletes. For example, they could freeze bonuses if an athlete wanted to retire from big-time sports ahead of time. He was allowed to leave only when a replacement was found. Therefore, sometimes athletes stayed in big sports longer than they wanted. However, this did not affect me.
How do you assess the current level of figure skating? Where do you see weak points?
The flaw that I see in figure skating is the desire of many athletes to achieve technical “super perfection”. I mean combinations of three and four rotation jumps. I think that for a young body this can be fraught with serious consequences, it can lead to serious injuries, like Evgeni Plushenko, because of this he could not continue to fight in the last world championship.
They say you are lucky in everything except love...
You can’t have everything you want, although, of course, you often want to have just everything. I already had happy love and serious relationships with men, I can’t complain. Currently I am single and live alone. The last year and a half has been mostly in Berlin, where I have an apartment. I travel a lot. And I can’t sacrifice my profession for the sake of a man, stop working. But I'm happy with what I have. I have many friends. Favorite work. And I'm vain. Money plays a secondary role for me, the main thing is that I am passionate about what I do.
Don't want to have a family or children?
Children? Don't know. So far this question has not arisen before me. As I already said, it is difficult for me to lead a normal life. If there was a child, I would have to stop working. And I'm a workaholic. In addition, at the moment there is no suitable candidate for the role of dad.
In the 80s you were a sex symbol for many Russian men, do you know about this?
It's a compliment. I think this had to do with the ability to show off beautifully on the ice, with choreography, with the plasticity of movements and, of course, with sexy costumes. I have never had a serious relationship with a Russian man. Your men are different from European and American men. I will never forget how I myself dragged heavy bags with skates, while the Russian athletes were helped by their partners. In this sense, I am closer to Eastern women.
By the way, not so long ago in Moscow I was in a dance club. I noticed how many beautiful and attractive women there were. But there was no suitable man for me there either. But I’m not looking, believe me...
Is it true that Garry Kasparov was wooing you?
What are you saying, I didn’t even know! I once received a telegram from Kasparov - congratulations on my victory in the Olympic Games. Although it is customary for athletes to congratulate each other on victory, this was unusual and even... honorable for me.
You starred in Playboy magazine. Did you really get paid a million?
For 10 years - since winning the Olympic Games in Calgary - Playboy tried to get my consent to be photographed, they followed me on my heels. But while I was performing, being photographed naked was unthinkable for me. Only after I left big sport did I decide to try working with them. Besides, I was already famous - compared to those models who became famous thanks to their pictures in Playboy. Filming took place outdoors. Everything was natural. I remember standing naked under a waterfall. And I wanted to be not only erotic, but also feminine. I won’t give away the secret and therefore won’t answer what fee I received. Let me just say that it was a decent amount.
Personally, I exercise regularly and limit myself in food, although not always. Because I love chocolate and sweets. If I happen to give myself pleasure - to eat what I want, then I usually train more.
No, I haven’t had any plastic surgery yet. I don’t know what will happen in ten years - maybe it will happen again. In Moscow I saw many young girls with “chipped” lips. I think that there is nothing special about it, when narrow lips are made more plump, but this should not be noticeable. And silicone breasts on teenagers look terrible.
How would you like to celebrate your anniversary?
Most of all I would like to put on a show on ice on this day. And celebrate with the public. I would also like to come to Russia and perform again - on ice, of course - and win hearts. The people there are completely different, I feel it, and the living conditions are different. In Russia, a person will give his neighbor his last shirt, there is still cohesion between people. Apparently, it's in the Russians' blood...
Let's remember Katharina Witt- figure skater from East Germany.
Katarina Witt - second and only two-time Olympic champion in women's singles*(won the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games).
Represented the German Democratic Republic - GDR. City Karl-Marx-Stadt, which doesn't exist now.
She was called “the most beautiful face of socialism” and, of course, hated.
So, the year is 1984. Olympic Games in Sarajevo where there is no war yet. Katharina Witt:
A figure skater from socialist Germany performed to the accompaniment of Nazi-German music for a demonstration performance. No, not like that...Under .
Short program-1984. Katarina Witt and the Hungarian csardas.
An impartial American judge gave Katarina 5.5 for technique and 5.6 for artistry. The grades that figure skaters usually receive at the Olympics are below average. Of course, no one thought that the American was trying to play along with the American figure skater Rosalyn Sumners. Well, maybe he just doesn't like Hungarian music. Despite this, Katharina Witt still received a gold medal.
Free program in Sarajevo 1984. This time the American judge gave in and gave it a 5.8 for artistry. And the lowest score was given by a judge from fraternal socialist Yugoslavia. And still, Katarina Witt is an Olympic champion.
I don’t want to talk about bad things, but I’ll say it anyway.
Since Katharina Witt was the “face of socialism,” the so-called “Soviet intelligentsia” hated her. The fact is that the “intelligentsia” did not understand much about figure skating, but they knew for sure that ideal skaters were Belousova and Protopopov. These are the Olympic champions in pair skating in 1964 and 1968. (unlike women’s singles, where only two women managed to win Olympic gold more than once, one of whom was Katarina Witt, in pair skating, Soviet pairs consistently won over and over again). Then this couple decided to betray the Soviet Motherland and fled to the West. In the West, they did not achieve success in figure skating, and therefore became an ideal for the “intelligentsia”.
The “Soviet intelligentsia” knew for sure that a real figure skater should flee to the West. Well, for a German figure skater to escape to West Germany is simply a sacred thing. Katharina Witt did not want to flee to West Germany, because the “intellectuals” hated her fiercely.
When the “liberal intelligentsia” has nothing to complain about in essence, it practices inventing all sorts of nasty things, especially in relation to women.
In those distant times, i.e. in the 1980s, “intellectuals” liked to emphasize that Katarina had ugly legs. Well, I agree that her legs are not perfect, the muscles are visible. Well, she's an athlete, not a fashion model. Not everyone has an ideal figure like Valeria Novodvorskaya.
Since Katharina Witt never got married and has no children, “liberal journalism” throughout the 90s practiced making up all sorts of insinuations, even to the point that the bloody German Gebnya gave her some kind of drugs, for which she not like a woman. (Although in the case of figure skating, there is no point in using such drugs at all. After all, it is not strength that is important, but coordination of movements).
In fact, Katarina had quite normal relationships with men (she is definitely not a lesbian). And the reluctance to reproduce, unfortunately, is a typical feature of the Germans. And the point is not that “there are a lot of fagots among the Germans” (as the “spiritually strong” like to say). Germans and German women are selfish and value their individual comfort most of all. In addition, Germans are workaholics (because when Katharina says that she could not trade her job for her family, I believe her. This is typical for a German woman).
Let me note that the inhabitants of “free” West Germany stopped reproducing for a very long time. The backward East Germans from the GDR still somehow had children, but after reunification they also stopped. It's sad, but there's nothing to be done.
It is curious that Chancellor Merkel was married twice. However, for some reason she has no children. Unlike Katharina Witt, who simply did not get married. But for some reason no one makes up insinuations about Frau Merkel. Probably because the “liberal intelligentsia” likes Frau Merkel.
There was also a favorite trick of the “liberals” - to say that Katharina Witt was a mistress Eric Honecker. Well, it is clear that the German figure skater could not have won the competition if she had not been personally “blessed” by the 76-year-old Secretary General. And in general, according to the “liberals,” the GDR did not strive to demonstrate its sporting successes to the whole world, and did not create ideal conditions for athletes for this purpose. No, there the entire management first fucked the skaters, and only then gave them a victory pill from the secret safes of Gebni.
The fact is that a “liberal” is a creature for whom everything is below the belt. He has no brain, no heart, no soul. He has in his head what ordinary people have below the belt. And he tries to attribute this understanding of life to normal people.
Sorry for ruining the mood. Yes, the world is not ideal.
Calgary 1988. Carmen and second Olympic gold:
*Someone may ask: “How can this be second And the only one? Is Comrade Machine Gun starting to talk?" Yes, it’s simple :) The first was Sonya Henie. But in 1936 she won the Olympic Games in Nazi Berlin and became a three-time champion.
Witt Katharina
(born 1965)
German figure skater. Two-time Olympic champion in women's singles skating (1984, 1988). World champion (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988). European champion (1983–1987, 1989). World champion among professionals (1992).
The “Queen of Figure Skating”, a figure skater who had no equal in the 80s, one of the most titled athletes in the world is her, Katarina Witt.
“The face of German socialism”, “the red champion”, “Erich Honecker’s favorite toy” and allegedly an agent of the East German secret service “Stasi” - this is also her, Katharina Witt.
Winner of the prestigious Emmy television award, actress who played in several films with Robert De Niro and Tom Cruise, television and radio commentator - that’s her, Katharina Witt.
A successful businesswoman who, among other things, owns a villa in Los Angeles and a four-story house in the center of Berlin, is also her, Katharina Witt.
The Playboy magazine model, who at the age of 32 was not afraid to put her magnificent body on public display, is all about her, Katharina Witt.
In general, as the hero of the popular Soviet comedy said, “an athlete, a Komsomol member and just a beauty” - that’s her, Katarina Witt...
Katharina Witt was born on December 3, 1965 in the small East German town of Staaken. Her father, Manfred Witt, was the director of an agricultural machinery factory, and her mother Kat was a sports doctor. Every day, mother took little Katarina to kindergarten and every day they passed by the skating rink called “Kuchwald”. The girl really wanted to skate, and she constantly asked her mother to take her to the skating rink. At the age of five, Katharina’s dream came true - she entered the sports school in Karl-Marx-Stadt.
Four years later, the fate of Katharina Witt was decided - the famous Jutta Müller took her under her wing. The famous coach saw the performance of nine-year-old Katarina and, with an experienced eye, immediately identified her enormous potential. And Jutta Müller knew how to make champions - it was she who raised Anita Pötsch, the champion of the 1980 Games in Lake Placid (by the way, Anita Pötsch was the wife of Axel Witt, Katharina’s older brother).
Of course, Jutta Müller is a brilliant coach, but this does not mean that Katharina Witt immediately started winning all the competitions in a row. The young figure skater's first successes were very modest - places in the second ten at the World and European Junior Championships, and third or fourth at the Olympics and championships of the GDR. Katharina's first significant achievement was tenth place at the World Championships in 1979. A year later, she took first place at the GDR championship (in total, during her career she won the title of best figure skater in her country eight times), and two years later she won silver at the European Championship.
Since 1983, the “era of Katarina Witt” began in women's figure skating. The German figure skater won gold at the European Championships, then the World Championships and finally took first place at the XIV Olympic Games in 1984. In Sarajevo, Katarina had no equal - she was first in both the short and free programs. The technically flawless, yet artistic performance of the graceful and slightly flirtatious Katarina left neither the audience nor the judges indifferent. The judges unconditionally put her in first place, leaving far behind the American Rosalyn Sumners and the Soviet athlete Kira Ivanova, who won silver and bronze medals, respectively.
After her first successes, Katarina was offered to move to the West, but she did not agree. And now, living for six months in the USA and earning decent money, Katharina Witt says that it was the East German regime that created all the conditions for her to win: “I owe all my success to my homeland - the GDR. I always believed that escaping to the West would be dishonest to my compatriots, who, in fact, paid for my training and travel to competitions.” Of course, her life in the GDR was different from the life of ordinary East Germans. She received a significant portion of her fees for performances (while the vast majority of her colleagues received mere pennies), she was given free apartments and collections of the most fashionable clothes. A special topic is her cars. Once upon a time, the GDR produced the Trabant, a car that was defective even by Soviet standards: a small, cramped fiberglass body, a weak engine that rumbled and spewed oil - in general, not a car, but, as they say, “a bucket of bolts.” So, in order to be able to buy this “miracle of technology,” residents of the GDR had to wait for their turn for decades. Naturally, the dark blue Lada and then the red Volkswagen Golf, which Katharina Witt drove, looked “defiant luxury” against this background. After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany, the figure skater was reproached more than once for these cars, somehow without thinking much that in our time, with the fee from performing at one commercial tournament, leading skaters can buy about twenty Ladas and five or six Volkswagens. .
Nowadays in print and electronic media you can often see different popularity ratings of famous people. The GDR also had its own “rating,” although it was somewhat peculiar - the more popular a person was, the more closely the East German Ministry of State Security, the notorious Stasi service, was interested in his life. According to various sources, the dossier on Katarina Witt contains from 1348 to 3500 pages, which is not surprising, because intelligence began monitoring the skater when she was... nine years old. After Katarina began to travel abroad, the surveillance did not stop for a minute. With German pedantry, intelligence recorded all the details, right down to the most intimate moments of the famous figure skater’s life. They followed not only Katarina herself, but also her relatives, using every opportunity for this. For example, one of the Stasi employees was introduced into the football team where Katarina’s brother played, another did renovations in the apartment of the figure skater’s parents, etc. Obviously, since then Katarina really doesn’t like it when someone interferes in things without permission. her life - one of the journalists was convinced of this from his own bitter experience, who, under the guise of an employee of the Berlin municipality, came to her house. When the deception was revealed, Katarina, without further ado, threw the hapless reporter out into the street, leaving several impressive bruises on his face.
For the opportunity to train normally, travel abroad and receive material benefits inaccessible to mere mortals, Katharina Witt had to pay with loyalty to the communist regime. In the early 1990s, excerpts from Witt's dossier were leaked to the German press. In particular, a report from one of the intelligence officers to the top leadership of the GDR was published: “We told her that she can be absolutely sure that she is guaranteed assistance from the Ministry of Security at any time. Katharina Witt gladly took note of this and at the end of the conversation said that she owes everything she has to our party and state. She promised never to disappoint the GDR and the party leadership and vowed that she would not flee to the West.” Katarina Witt herself never hid the fact that she collaborated with intelligence. Another thing is that she categorically denies that she followed her teammates and coaches, helping the Stasi stop attempts to escape to the West: “I never worked for the Stasi, and everything I told them concerned only me and no one else.” more".
As for the sporting achievements of Katarina Witt, from 1983 to 1988 she won almost all competitions that were held in amateur figure skating. During this period, she stumbled only once, in 1986, losing the world championship to American Debi Thomas. It was Dabi who was Katharina Witt's main competitor at the 1988 Olympic Games in Calgary. By chance or not, both figure skaters chose Bizet’s music from the opera “Carmen” for their free program. The referees had to decide which Carmen was better - German or American, naturally, taking into account both the technique of performing the number and artistry. Katarina was, as always, inimitable - her performance received a thunderous ovation. However, in terms of technical complexity, her program was inferior to that of the American figure skater. Debi Thomas, who competed later than her opponent, had the only chance to get a gold medal - she had to skate her routine cleanly and perform five flawless triple jumps. The American almost completed the task, but a small mistake at the very beginning of her performance cost her the championship title. Debi Thomas took silver. Thus, Katharina Witt became the second athlete, after the legendary Sonya Henie, who managed to win the Olympics twice in a row.
Katharina Witt remained faithful to the end to the now defunct country called the “German Democratic Republic”. Only after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany did Katarina switch to professional figure skating. She signed a contract with the American troupe Holiday on Ice, where her partners were the famous figure skaters Brian Orser and Brian Boitano. “Unsurpassed and incomparable” Katharina Witt immediately captivated the American public, satiated with various spectacles. Ice shows with her participation always attracted full stadiums. In 1990, Katarina received the prestigious television Emmy Award for her starring role in the film Carmen on Ice, and in 1995 she was awarded the highest American award for professional athletes, the Jim Thorpe Pro Sports Award. (This award was established in honor of American Indian track and field athlete Jim Thorpe, the 1912 Stockholm Olympic champion in the pentathlon and decathlon, who, in addition to athletics, competed in baseball, American football, basketball, swimming, boxing, hockey and shooting from onions.)
After the IOC allowed professional athletes to take part in the Olympics, Katharina Witt tried to win Olympic gold for the third time, performing in 1994 at the Games in Lillehammer, Norway, but the German “queen of ice” failed to repeat the achievement of three-time Olympic champion Sonja Henie. Nevertheless, Katarina was not left without a reward - she was awarded the special prize “Golden Camera”.
Obviously, Katharina Witt belongs to the number of people for whom a state of rest is absolutely impossible. Back in 1987, when her figure skating career was in full swing, she entered an acting school, one of the best in the GDR. In feature films, her roles in the films “Jerry McGuire” and “Ronin” did not go unnoticed.
And in 1998, Katarina posed completely naked for Playboy magazine. Of course, adherents of strict morality did not approve of the action of the German champion, but most fans were only glad to see her in such a so-called “absolutely natural” form, it is not for nothing that that issue of “Playboy” is now a kind of bibliographic rarity.
Now Katharina Witt continues to stage her own ice performances, and also works as a commentator for German and American television companies. The “Queen of Figure Skating” is still on the ice, and she will soon turn forty years old (although it is considered bad manners to talk about a woman’s age, this does not apply to Katharina Witt - she is just as magnificent as she was twenty years ago). Even after the Olympic Sarajevo, she was asked: “How long are you going to skate?” To this Katarina invariably replies: “I never think about it. I will go on the ice and delight the audience as long as I can do it..."
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