Katarina Witt

Witt came head-to-head with her beloved government in 1988, when she wanted to skate with the American Holiday on Ice tour. Only after months of pleading by Witt did the rigid bureaucracy allow her to accept the offer—under the condition that 80 percent of her $3.78 million contract be paid to the East German Sports Federation. She went through the same tiresome process to appear in Canvas of Ice in December 1988 and to film HBO's Carmen on Ice, which earned her an Emmy Award. She skated with friend and American skater Brian Boitano in both. The government wanted Witt to pursue her education, and revoked her travel privileges to discourage her aspirations abroad. Her government lost its hold on Witt in November 1989, when the Berlin Wall was brought down and Germany was reunited as one democratic nation. The collapse of her government left Witt free to perform as she liked, but she was practically reviled in her own country for having been so favored by the government.

Witt quickly adapted to freedom. She toured North America in Katarina Witt & Brian Boitano—Skating in 1990. She appeared off the ice during the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, as a commentator for CBS-TV. In 1993, she covered the World Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia, for NBC-TV.

Witt decided in 1993 to begin training for the 1994 Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Many scoffed at the decision; at age 28, she was almost twice as old as her competitors. An eighth-place finish at the European Championships did not bode well for her Olympic chances, and was a blow to her confidence. Witt dedicated her 1994 Olympic performance of "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" to war-torn Sarajevo, where she had won her first gold a decade earlier. The performance also marked the first time her parents had ever seen her skate. Though she finished seventh, the performance was as important to Witt as any that had earned her the gold.