Katarina Witt - 1981 World Championships Short Program

Showing that you can skate to just about anything, Katarina Witt selects the "Muppet Show" theme as her music for the short program at the 1981 World Championships in Hartford.

After placing 11th in the compulsory figures section, Katarina wins the short program segment to move to 6th place overall going into the long program

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Muppet
• Show
• Short
• Program
• 1981
• World
• Championships
• Figure
• Skating
• Katarina
• Witt

[slapshotz20]

Big hair, little girl. Loved it then, love it now!

[nosuchpersonvideo]

I's time to put on makeup

It's time to dress up right

It's time to do a salchow at the Olympic Games tonight.

[Marchjoy1963]

@nondescriptnyc At this point in time Witt has only been around for 2 years (this being her second.. so she would hardly be know as the so called artist she became. Denise has been around for 5 years, and is known to be the world best free skater (that is her reputation), the judges penalized skaters hard in the short program. For missing combinations... and other required elements.. but there really was no explanation for a low second mark, by this time Denise had much improved that area.

[nondescriptnyc]

@yodabeesh I once spoke to a former Soviet skater, who said that someone from their Federation used to go to Japan once in a while and come back with hundreds of vinyl records of movie soundtracks, easy listening, pop music, and so on, from which programs were often derived.

So, my guess is that DDR was doing the same (perhaps not Japan...). I bet the Muppet Show was never shown there, and Witt probably wasn't even aware of the nature of the music she was skating to here!

[nondescriptnyc]

@jubbadupa I personally agree, but, as someone who competed during that era, I'd like to point out that the standards were vasty different back then. Witt was considered sensational, with her tremendous speed, huge jumps, perky personality, etc. we hadn't ever really seen in women before. Biellmann was superb, I agree, but the judges didn't think she was a great artist, by the "artistic standards" then, so Biellmann's artistry didn't really give her much of an edge over Witt.

[Squonkee]

Lol...I wish footwork was that easy now...

[westfaner]

shameless drug cheat... Witt

[jubbadupa]

@jubbadupa I did mean to type" in "comparison

[jubbadupa]

I just watched Denise Biellmann's short program from these championships, and although she missed her combination jump, her artistry was far superior to this, and actually the entire program was. She was the eventual champion, but is comparsion.. another over marked program for Katarina,which seemed to be a running theme throughout her career.

[MaariieeLaLaLa]

@firmingitup She did :) i liked it though

[firmingitup]

OMG, she didn't really skate to The Muppets Show theme, did she?

[Chris6134]

@slapshotz20 Me too ! I really enjoyed it. Great job for such a young age.