As a gold medalist in 1984 and 1988 East German Katarina Witt became the first woman figure skater to retain an Olympic title since Sonja Henie. She was also a four-time World Champion (1984-85, 1987-88) and six-time European Champion (1983-88). After taking the Olympic, World and European titles she turned professional in 1988. With the return to Olympic eligibility of professionals Witt took part in the Winter Olympics for a third time in 1994, but some of the magic of the earlier days had gone and she finished seventh. Both Witt and Thomas were favoured contenders at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Their rivalry was known as the " Battle of the Carmens", as each woman had independently elected to skate her long program to music from Bizet's opera Carmen. They held the top two spots after the compulsory figures and the short program. Witt was third in the compulsories, behind Ivanova and Thomas, before winning the short program with Thomas second. In her long program, Witt landed four triple jumps and downgraded her planned triple-loop jump to a double loop. This left room for Thomas to win the long program, but Thomas missed three of her five planned triple jumps. Canadian skater Elizabeth Manley won the long program convincingly over Witt (seven judges to two), however Witt retained her Olympic title based on her overall scores (she had finished ahead of Manley in both the compulsory figures and the short program). Witt became only the second woman in figure skating history (after Sonja Henie) to defend her Olympic title successfully. Had Manley not narrowly lost second place to Thomas in the short program (by one judge), or Witt not narrowly held onto second place over Ito in the long program (on a 6–3 split), Manley would have defeated Witt for the overall gold medal. To honour Witt and her win in Calgary, North Korea issued miniature sheets with three large pictures of Witt on the ice. [4] Time magazine called her "the most beautiful face of socialism." [3] Gabrielle gained national notoriety after being nominated by Elle as “one of the five most beautiful women in the world” in 1989. Moreover, Women’s Sports & Fitness named Gabby one of the ‘20 Most Influential Women in Sports’. Karen Karbo best describes this amazing athlete: “ She accomplishes these things by tapping into her aggressive, competitive side without losing sight of her emotional center or her femininity. Gabrielle Reece is an inspiration to all girls and women who want to become the heroes of their own lives.” Some do it for the money and fame, some do it for a good cause, while other athletes do it because they are simply proud of showing their perfectly sculpted bodies. However, there are some Olympians, such as softball sensation Jennie Finch, who turned down Playboy offers saying that she would “rather be a role model to young girls”. Witt won the first of her two Olympic gold medals for East Germany at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics, before winning a second at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. She is one of only two skaters to defend a ladies' singles Olympic title, the other being Norwegian Sonja Henie. Witt is a four-time World Champion (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988) and two-time World silver medalist (1982, 1986). She won six consecutive European Championships (1983–1988), a feat only equalled by Sonja Henie among female skaters. Between 1984 and 1988, Witt won ten golds from eleven major international events, making her one of the most successful figure skaters.

Nicole Reinhardt won six Gold medals from a total of eleven at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships, including a Gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in the women’s K-4 500 m event. Paterson, Tony (5 May 2002). "Stasi files reveal Katarina Witt was willing accomplice". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009.

Results

Judoka Romy Tarangul is well respected in the international Judo scene. She competed at her first Olympic in Beijing 2008, won a silver medal in the 2008 European Championships and took the first place at the 2008 Judo World Cup held in Bulgaria.

For me, Playboy was never about the pictures, at least not when I was a young adult. I know, everyone says that. But it's true. What I lament about its demise is what Playboy once represented to me as a reader, because there was a time it could hold its own against any of the great literary publications around: The New Yorker, Harper's, Esquire. You name it. On 7 July 2007, Witt was a competitor at the German segment of Live Earth. She headed Munich's unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 Winter Olympics. [12] [13]

Biography

McD, Mike. "The 40 Hottest Female Athletes Of The Decade". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014. Those were the days when magazines didn't need to break up 10,000-word articles into fact boxes and sidebars to maintain someone's interest. But eventually they did, and their lustre faded, especially Playboy's. The advent of Internet porn made the images in it redundant, passé, almost quaint. The magazine's cover too often became a vehicle for washed-up entertainers trying to revive their careers. Playboy long ago lost any appeal for me.