Kat Witt related article

The old thread on Kat and her childhood nastalgia has been archived, but here is a related article that I found interesting:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/13/international/europe/13GERM.html?8hpib

"It's a very nice place when you want to remember your childhood," Thomas Blechschmied, a 29-year-old visitor, said the other day. "My parents still have those egg-holders," he continued, pointing to a bright yellow object inside a case of plastic kitchen utensils from the early 1970's.

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All this has given rise to a sort of East German post-mortem feeling that maybe the East had its good aspects after all, especially a certain economic security and stability, even if your best vacation option was Bulgaria.

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Truth be told, I still don't get why people here have such a problem with Kat. I certainly wouldn't want to be told that all of my childhood memories had to be publicly condemed just because Vietnam was a big mistake.

Thanks for the link.
Another truth Katarina Witt speaks her mind on is that she never would have been financially able to progress as a competitive figure skater given her parents economic status if she had been raised in West Germany - or for that matter anywhere in the West. This may be a matter of debate, yet it is a point well taken that untold millions of youngsters who would wish to pursue a figure skating dream are roadblocked due to family financial constraints. Or worse yet they live in communities that a figure skating pursuit by a youngster would be dashed by the socio/economic culture of that community. That being no opportunity to even learn to skate due to the nonexistence of either an ice arena or an outdoor sheet of ice. Believe me many communities like this exist even in the U.S.A.

Marxism as applied by the former East Germans and Soviets was not an ideal society. Yet, let's give credit when credit is due. East Germany and the Soviets produced a number of the best figure skaters in the World.

Not attacking you, Lillehammer 94, but my feelings about the East German sports machine in those days are of revulsion and disgust.

The East Germans slipped their child athletes harmful drugs without their knowledge, mostly male hormones for the girls. This caused an estimated 10,000 people problems throughout their lives, including birth defects in the children they had later.

This on top of the other abuse their athletes endured, with a ton of shame waiting for them if they quit.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312269773/104-5398754-7501518?vi=reviews

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/issues/story/0,11839,905718,00.html

http://ed-web3.educ.msu.edu/ysi/Spotlight1997/steroids.html

and dozens of other sites which can be revealed with a few Google searches.

I have no judgment of Katarina one way or the other -- we do what we can in the environments in which we find ourselves and into which we are born, and I haven't studied her life. But when talking about the East German sports system in general, it was utterly reprehensible.

The Russian skaters too were sponsored by their Government and told "how to live." I guess one has to sacrifice freedom for the privilege to skate in these countries. Our skaters here have their freedom, but they also have to finance most of their skating - or their parents do. Some simply can't afford to skate.

Some of the Russian skaters defected. The famous Protopopovs were all but obliterated from the Russian skating federation for defecting.

Katarina probably would not have gone as far as she did had she lived here - unless her family had lots of money to keep her skating. Its an expensive sport. I guess Katarina has to accept the good with the bad and get on with life.

SPIRIT, The East Germans responsible for what you have provided links for in the above are indeed reprehensible. Not looking yet at the links you provided, I certainly don't look at East German Sports through blinders. One (including myself) must differentiate the East Germans from the Soviets. And as for Katarina Witt, I don't speak for her, yet I believe she is speaking only in the context of her own figure skating career in East Germany. And not the entire history of East German Sports. East German Sports was no doubt a sorry state of affairs.
As for the Soviets, Joseph Stalin was as terrible a leader as Adolf Hitler. I hope not to be understood as painting a pretty picture of the former Soviet Union. So having qualified this I still maintain that the Soviet's had their merits in cultivating athletes. Outside of Katarina Witt, the East German Sports were guilty of many terrible deeds.

No prob. It was the thought of giving them credit for creating great skaters that caught my attention, I guess, for there was more to how they went about creating them than giving skates and training to families who couldn't afford them.

But you're right that a socialist system helps people achieve success who wouldn't otherwise have made it on their own due to their starting financial situation, and that Kat no doubt belongs in that category. I can't see the same happening in the U.S. except in the form of private donations / financial aid foundation.

I've always wondered: does the USFSA help fund promising young skaters through some sort of foundation if they don't have the money for coaching on their own? I searched their web site briefly but didn't find anything.

They had ads at Philips arena on the jumbotron and at the USFSA desk on how to be a friend of skating and how to apply for funding for athletes. There are additionals programs such as the Chevy scholars. I'm not sure of the amount, but it could pay for a new outfit or skates.

I'll go out the limb and tell you that in (my opinion only) the Cold War never really has ended in the World of figure skating. It's just kept under the radar screen. The skaters themselves from the former Soviet and Eastern Block countries are in a pickle because so many of the dollars to made made on skating tours are of course made here in North America. Money is to be made in Western Europe, but even that is not as lucrative as the North American circuit here.

Skating money for coaching and training purposes for non-elite skaters is most difficult to come by. By non-elite skaters I mean those amatuer skaters who are not competing at the international level.
A talented youngster must only hope for either a community figure skating club or a coach who is willing to work with that skater at a reduced fee. Or a coach who is willing to hussle sponsor money at the community level.

Another intersting article about the evils of East German doping:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/26/sports/othersports/26STER.html

Does anyone know if Kat has ever spoken publicly about steroid use and her personal experience?

I'll be reading from a German publication an interview with Katarina Witt on the subject of her Stasi File. I"ll let you know what I find out. The interview is quite lengthy.