Katarina Witt Quotes

1. With ABC, I am standing right on the ice and I am right where the skaters come by.

2. Sometimes I'll have a glass of red wine or piece of chocolate and think: "Fine, I was never a skinny skater. I was always more womanly".

3. You do make a lot of sacrifices being an athlete, but you learn lessons for the rest of your life.

4. 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.



5. It tells you have to work hard to earn your success. If you are willing to do that and you have passion for it, you can achieve something wonderful.

6. I can't say: "It doesn't matter if you win or lose." It's not true. You go in to win.

7. Maybe the guys are not as strong, but you have some great pairs coming up. In the past, the pairs were weaker. Sometimes there isn't an explanation.




8. Almost nothing is presented to you on a silver platter. You have to really work for it.

9. Every man prefers to look at a well-shaped woman instead of a rubber ball.

10. 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.

11. I've had a lot of happy days in my life.

12. I hope that I can maintain my skating as long as possible.

13. If I perform, I want to deliver the best I have.




14. I learned not to depend on other people. I needed support, but it's you who has to go out and deliver.

15. I'd like to have kids, but I don't think the moment is right.

16. 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.





17. Figure skating is a mixture of art and sport.

18. The idea of marriage, which is eternal, I'm afraid of. I've seen so many things that haven't been forever.

19. I never had a serious injury that kept me out of a big competition. Now everyone has injuries - to their feet or their knees or their backs.

20. I try to get nine hours of sleep.

21. It didn't matter; you couldn't buy anything in East Germany anyway.

22. I never really like to skate in an empty ice rink; I always need the attention of an audience.

23. I try to eat healthy, with vegetables and pasta.

24. The meaning of the Olympics wasn't clear until I traveled throughout the United States. That kind of stardom wasn't supported in East Germany.

25. 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.

26. The sports system would help you deliver your best effort.

27. I see myself more as the emotional announcer.

28. Training seven hours a day, you give up a lot of things, but I had fun.

29. I started the class late. The teacher said I would have to learn as much in half a year that the others learned in a year. I did it.

30. Unconsciously, I probably am a big flirt. Consciously, I don't realize I'm flirting that much.



31. I stand where the first judge is sitting. I am very close to the ice so I have a different view than the hosts in the booth. I can offer something different because I can get a sense of the speed. I can even smell the fear they have. I like that position.

32. I was an athlete. And I proved I didn't win just because I was pretty. I was good, too.

33. I want to see sunrises in the mountains. You never get to see such things enough in a lifetime. I want to see more.




34. We're all hard working women. It's more a playful diva. But if it comes to being in control of things and making sure that I do a good job and having a good team around me so I can deliver something good.

35. First you have to be a great athlete, and then you can focus on the artistry.

36. I was the very first athlete 
in East Germany allowed to go professional.

37. I'm the sort of person who needs a big mountain in front of me to climb.

38. Well, I think a diva is something different these days. Usually diva comes from the opera where it's more about really being a diva. Being a diva in my sport maybe is something else.



39. It's hard work to make a four-minute program look effortless and elegant.

40. I remember the first competition I did was on my seventh birthday. I won. It was quite a nice present to give myself.

41. It's not like I didn't do anything for 10 years and chose a new profession. I've been on the ice a lot. I'm not an outsider.


42. Whatever has to get done, you don't bail out in the middle.


43. Everything looks so easy only because we are in shape.

44. Money was never the motivation. It never should be in sports.

45. Skating taught me to set a goal and to block out other things and just focus on this one thing.


46. When I am home in Berlin, I train four hours a day.

47. Sometimes, success almost haunts you. You want to be the best at everything you do and know you have to work hard.

48. The desire to really compete again has been there for a long time.

49. For exhibitions, watching Kurt Browning makes me smile. I always think: "Oh, my God, that guy is so handsome and sexy on the ice".






50. When I am producing a show like "Divas on Ice", I rehearse six to eight hours a day.

51. Too many times women try to be competitive with each other. We should help support each other, rather than try to be better than each other.

52. When I get up, I have a cup of coffee, surf the Internet, then do a half-hour run.




53. Going into the 1994 Olympics I knew that I had no chance to win.

54. When I go out on the ice, I just think about my skating. I forget it is a competition.

55. 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.




56. When I traveled somebody always followed me. People pretended to be my friends, and I'd tell them things about my private life: It all ended up in the files. I saw love letters copied in my files, and I felt totally betrayed.

57. As an athlete, you choose your sport and are drawn into it but your passion should never be driven by fame and fortune but a desire to create something special that people will always remember.






58. I had my two gold medals already, so for me it was a different reason.

59. When I was a teenager I would secretly go into a disco and come back late at night, and then still be on the ice at seven o'clock in the morning.

60. 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.




61. When I'm traveling, it's quite difficult. I go around the hotel for fitness. I get some stuff in, but it's not enough.

62. I have to fight for every hour I have and then I feel more and more under pressure when I skate.

63. 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.


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