Competitive Highlights
Few women have dominated figure skating like Katarina Witt. And few have celebrated talent with more style and grace than this striking German beauty. During the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Winter Games, Witt became the first woman in more than 50 years to win back-to-back Olympic Championships in figure skating.
From humble beginnings in the former East German city of Karl-Marx-Stadt, Katarina controlled women's figure skating in the 80s. She began skating at the age of five and went on to become a six-time European and four-time World Champion between 1983 and 1988.
At the Sport Club Karl-Marx-Stadt, young Katarina went to school while she learned to skate under the tutelage of Bernd Egert. When she was nine, Witt was placed under the coaching direction of one of Germany's most prominent skating coaches, Jutta Muller. Katarina was soon spending four hours a day on the ice, sacrificing leisure time and family life to the sport she grew to love. The eventual challenge of competition only made her better.
Katarina has enjoyed continued success as a professional, touring North America with several figure skating shows including 'Skating I & II" in which she starred with Brian Boitano. She made her skating debut with "Discover Card Stars on Ice" in April 1994 and joined the cast full time for the 1994-95 season. Witt will be a cast member for the first half of the 1997-98 season of "Discover Stars on Ice."
In recent years, Witt has become a media fixture lending her talents to television, motion pictures and sports commentary. In 1990, she won an Emmy Award for her starring performance in the title role of HBO's "Carmen on Ice." She also starred in the CBC-TV special "Women in Red" which was broadcast in 1991 throughout Europe and Canada. Last summer, Witt and HBO co-produced a modern adaptation of the classic 'Cinderella,' called 'Ice Princess.' On two occasions, 'People' magazine has named her 'One of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World.'
Witt has provided color sports commentary for CBS-TV coverage of the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, France; for NBC-TV coverage of the 1993 World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia; and for German TV ZDF coverage of the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships in Munich.
After regaining her amateur status in 1993, Katarina competed in her third Olympic Winter Games at Lillehammer, Norway where she finished sixth.
Katarina makes her home in Berlin and New York, N.Y.
Katarina Witt Links