Katarina Witt - 1983 Skate Canada Long Program

[pelicanus11]

todays skaters are just going from triple to triple >>it gets tedious!

[MusicHeartification]

i really dont have a clue about skating but even i can see that shes doing it with passion!

[Chutson353]

This is my favorite performance of this routine - I guess I'm a sucker for the triple flip - BIG deal at that time.

[karrtt1234]

Steroid queen..Katarina !!

[JTAimeVani]

pretty! she truly has passion for what she does unlike other skaters, she skates for her own passion!

[CarstenOepping]

@karrtt1234 such a stupid comment!

do you have any proof? you just hate her because she is from the GDR and still very famous and one of the best skater of all times.

you are so typically!

1. stupid

2. from USA ,Israel or Canada

3. ignorant and have not a clue what's going on in the world

[alwonderb0y]

That was a Great triple flip :-) Katarina knows when to throw harder jumps then when you can't make the combination. She's a great Jumper. A great performance indeed.

[koolaidnhemlock]

why did she stop doing the flip? did the judges tell her it was unnecessary? or maybe as she grew it messed up her timing?

[libralady1010]

Katarina heard that Rosalynn Sumners wasn't including one-the triple flip- in her LP for 1984 [ Sarajevo.]

She concentrated on Figures instead.

Smart move. But she DID do a wonderful triple flip@ 1987 Worlds LP to West Side Story right in front of the judging panel. She was the last to skate that evening as well. It was landed on one foot ,too so the lady was/is a competitor and could really sell a program.

[ft192]

@libralady1010 In that long program that I believe is posted, Witt did not do a triple flip, she did do a triple loop that may have been two-footed. It was a great performance though.

[iotep]

I do not know how ot distinguish a double from a tripple jump, but I am very sure that she was an once in a century event, her natural beauty, the authentic expression, and her ability express a song. Where as with the other athlets I see fighting and focus, with Katarina I see her joy on the ice and performing and expressing for the audience. I gave her gold medal as soon as she entered the ice and doing opening moves with her smile.

Thank you, Katarina

[iotep]

I am not really into this sport, but when I saw Katarina at the time, in 1984 and 1988, I was overwhelmed, as I am today watching it on youtube.

[clintcooper2003]

Wow, compared to one of Kwan's best programs this is pretty lackluster. Notice how Witt travels on spins and of course the lack of triples.

[MelleAndKev]

Yeah, well compulsory figures were still part of the sport, so there wasn't as much emphasis on triple jumps yet.... Must I remind you that it is 1983? A lot has changed in figure skating since then (sadly.)

[winer65]

Wow!! What a difference between the programs in 1983 and those of today. Today the programs are so much harder technically. This is at the expense of beautiful skating. I think a Johnny Weir who is such an artistic skater would have fit better into this time period of skating and would have been rewarded with more gold medals. The skating today is harming these athlete's physically.

[shayneinsc]

he said the rules (at that time) said that a triple jump that is landed on two feet should be disregarded which i think is wrong, she landed the flip but just two footed it and today she would have been given credit for it

[katarinadawn]

dude mi names Katarina i was named after her!

[zecrazygerman]

the triples were not as important, were they? The b-note was just as important as the a-note back in the days. did they even compare the number of jumps in those days?

[prescient8]

wonderful skater - the best ever

[councillor1968]

A true athlete, I don't seem to like the American scaters.....they talk too much. Katarina is great, a wonderful performer. The best there ever was and the best there ever will be. Thanks to Jutta Mueller.

[sagsagleo]

They're-the American Skaters-are plenty good. They have microphones stuck in their faces the whole time by mostly dumb-a** reporters who don't know the difference between a lutz, a salchow, a flip, etc. There are exceptions in THAT dep't though. And there have been a few displays of bad behavior on the podium i.e., Debi Thomas in 1988 but they are good kids with great techique

[Chutson353]

The triple flip adds some much needed content at the end of the program - I think this is her best performance of this routine.

[Bronxfan]

Thank you so much for posting this. I have always loved this program. Interesting - the announcers love her choreography. In the ABC coverage of this same program at the Olympics, Peggy Fleming doesn't like her choreography. I think the best she ever skated this program was at the 1985 Worlds. But how great to see Kat land the triple flip.

[AlexYvesMartin]

Having been a professional skater in the 80 and 90 I can say this, Katarina jumped four different triples, however they were never needed, in 84 her competion was Sumners she only could jump 2 different triple, and in 88 her only real competion was Thomas. There is more in skating then what you can or cant jump, there is strategy and if you look at the the competion in the 80 it wasnt needed to do more then 2 different triples, i dont like it but thats the way it was and Katarina is the proof.

[Astardis]

Katarina and her triple Flip, one of my favourite subjects to discuss... my personal guess is that her maturing effected her jumping ability. She grew rather remarkable breasts and those may easily have effected her jumping. I can't think of any other explanation why a skater who started off as a good or even great jumper eventually turned out to be an almost pure artistic skater in the end.

[stefrevollo]

Thanks, very interesting triple flip indeed, I had never seen such a late successful one for her. I am not sure it was two-footed, what do you think ? I don't understand why she never attempted it again...

[sekretaznman81]

she stated in interviews that since sumners wasn't attempting it, she didn't need it. denise biellmann had retired--and the canadians who had lutzes (manley) were inconsistent.

[nondescriptnyc]

Biellman never had a flip, and Manley had not really emerged in 1983 (and she certainly did not have the lutz just yet). Manley's lutz only came about in 1985, and she never had a flip, either.

Katarina lost her lutz, so she switched to attempting the loop, which she never really cleanly landed, either. I think her upper body matured too much. Toward the end, she could barely land her sals.

[beckerbombs]

Biellmann never had a flip but she had a lutz. So Witt's triple flip would have been more neccessary had Biellmann been around.  You are right Manley was not a contender at all at that point.