Katarina Witt
Birthdate - December 3, 1965
Birthplace - Karl-Marx-Stadt, East Germany
Parents' Names
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Sporting Career
Katarina Witt, born in Karl-marx-stadt in East Germany on the date of December 3, 1965, began skating when she was 5 years old. Like many of us, the first time she got onto the ice, she instantly fell in love with it. At age 9, Jutta Mueller watched this young skater gliding around the ice and saw the potential that Katarina had. She began coaching Katarina Witt in the long journey to Olympic and Professional fame. Participating in the European Championships and then the World's she moved herself towards her Olympic goal. In 1984 she made her Olympic debut in the Sarajevo and skated away with the Gold medal, and in 1988 she pushed past a misfortunate Debi Thomas to gain another Gold medal at Calgary. She became the first woman in over 50 years to win back to back Olympic gold medals. She became a six-time European and four-time World Champion between 1983 and 1988. Little did we know that during the 1988 year she was given a condition by her government that in order to continue skating on a professional level she must win the gold medal at Calgary. Fortunately, she was favoured to win the gold as long as she defeated Debi Thomas, the United States secret weapon. She knew she had to win to keep participating in the sport she loved and fortune smiled on her as she skated to "Carmen" pushing past her skating rivals. In East Germany, behind closed doors, the Communist controlled government was always monitor Katarina but also let her have all the advantages of sports equipment, cars, travel, and ice-rinks at her disposal as long as she continued winning. When the Berlin Wall came down in November of 1989 and Germany began the reunification process, Katarina took advantage of the peering Western eyes and began performing in television shows and professional ice shows. In order to get closer to the action, she bought an apartment in New York City and began to work her way into American ice shows and the world's hearts as a powerful but sensual skater. She even participated in an ice-skating HBO rendition of "Carmen on Ice" which earned her an Emmy Award. She was the only female ice-skater ever to be praised with this award. Gaining fame and prestige, she regained her amateur status in 1993, and began to train for the road back to Olympic competition. In 1994 she arrived back at Lillehammer. Although this time the camera's eye was turned towards Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding, and a little Ukrainian girl with special talent.
Katarina skated well, but missed the Gold medal by several marks and skated away with 6th place. She moved back into the professional touring career that she loved so much. She made her skating debut with "Discover Card Stars on Ice" in April 1994 and is now on the road 8 months out of the year touring and training. She says that she wouldn't have it any other way then to tour with her friends and colleges and joined the cast full time for the 1994-95 season. Katarina has done the 1995 season and is back on for the 1996 10th anniversary season of "Discover Card Stars on Ice." She now calls Chemnitz, Germany her home across the ocean, but still has an apartment and lives in New York City, enjoying life to the fullest extent that she can.
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