Katharina Witt
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Witt 2014
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| Country represented |
 East Germany (1977–1988) Germany (1994) |
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| Born |
3 December 1965 Staaken, East Germany |
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| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former coach | Jutta Müller | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Skating club | SC Karl-Marx-Stadt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1988 and 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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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.
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.
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. At the 1981 World Championships she placed 1st in the short, 3rd in the long, and 2nd in the combined free skating, missing a medal due to low placem in figures. She placed on a major podium for the first time in 1982, winning silver at both the European and World Championships. She had a great shot of winning the 1982 World Championships, which she only required winning the long program to do, but stepping out of 3 jumps, including her legendary triple flip which she was the first women to do, and an easy (for her) double axel, cost her the long program win and overall gold medal to Elaine Zayak who landed 6 triples. The next season, she won her first European title but finished off the World podium in fourth place, despite winning the combined free skating (she was 8th in compulsory figures. Had she placed 1st instead of 2nd (on a 5-4 split) to Sumners in the long program, she would have jumped to the silver overall over both Leistner and Vodezorova. Her free skate with a triple flip and 5 triples was technically superior to Sumners, and many believed should have taken the crucial 1st place in this phase.
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