Katarina Witt
Katarina Witt
Katarina Wittis 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 championand twice World silver medalist. A feat only equalled by Sonja Henie among female skaters, Witt won six consecutive European Championships. Her competitive record makes her one of the most successful figure skaters of all time...
NationalityGerman
ProfessionFigure Skater
Date of Birth3 December 1965
CityBerlin, Germany
CountryGermany
She took a day of rest, which is fine. She is physically prepared, and maybe she doesn't need that day of pressure with everyone watching her.
When you're young, you travel with your parents. When you get older you bring your husband with you. But when you get my age you bring your physical therapist.
When you see the audiences and the smiling faces at the shows it really makes up for the work that you put in. I have a job I really love so whatever hecticness comes up - I'll just deal with it.
I don't want to compete. I want to skate for the joy. I get so nervous in competition. I get always sick. I had pressures enough in my life from skating.
When you're young, you don't think very far ahead. You just think in terms of the next day, the next week, the next competition. You don't think about injuries that could threaten your long-term health.
Sometimes I even now feel like a stranger in my country. But I knew there would be problems because I had seen the world as a skater. And now? A lot of people in eastern Germany have lost jobs, rents went up, food costs went up, unemployment went to 20 percent. Freedom is good, but it is not easy.
Competitions make me nervous. When I go out on the ice, I just think about my skating and not, 'I have to do this to win.' I forget it is a competition.
When I go our on the ice, I just think about my skating. I forget it is a competition.
He doesn't have any skeletons in his closet. He was young and naive.
What I like is that she has been always a fighter. There have been so many young skaters coming and going, winning the Olympics and leaving. She kept defending her titles and still setting goals for herself, which I think is great. She always could have taken the easy way, and she never did.
Sometimes, success almost haunts you. You want to be the best at everything you do and know you have to work hard.
When you reach a certain level, you live in a bubble when all you think, dream and breathe is becoming the best athlete in the world.
The desire to really compete again has been there for a long time.
I learned not to depend on other people. I needed support, but it's you who has to go out and deliver.