Katarina Witt--the East German Who Is More Equal Than Others

“France, France, Hungary,” Katarina Witt says, pointing to her sleek pants, sweater and jacket. There’s no telling where she got her new-wave sunglasses.

It’s hard to imagine that a globe-trotter like Witt could ever go unnoticed on a typically drab East German street.

Then again, Witt is not a typical East German.

Thanks to an Olympic gold medal and two world titles, the 20-year-old figure skater has been showered with privileges virtually unheard of in East Germany. And, to stay in her government’s good graces, she’s joined the Communist Party.

Witt, who dazzled the world with her pirouettes, jumps and glamour-girl smile at the 1984 Winter Games in Sarajevo, zips around town in an expensive Soviet-made Lada and lives in a multi-room house in this industrial city.

It wouldn’t sound so indulgent except that normally, residents of this Soviet-bloc country wait 12 years to obtain a car and nearly that long for an apartment.

Witt is also one of very few East Germans more equal than others in an officially egalitarian society, earning a high five-figure salary from the state that will ensure she lives the rest of her life in comfort.

Not only has the German Democratic Republic showered its skating star with affection, so have lots of teen-age boys.

Since Sarajevo, where she was dubbed a ringer for actress Brooke Shields, Witt has received more than 35,000 letters, many of them “marriage proposals, even from U.S. boys,” she said in a recent interview.

She also has received offers in the form of cold, hard cash, one reportedly a $4 million proposal from an U.S. professional skating concern.

“I know that something like this is not possible here,” Witt said. “Being a star, with the personal glory that goes with it, just won’t pass in a Socialist social order.”

Despite all the perks, Witt’s feet appear to be firmly planted on earth. Her regimen under coach Jutta Muller consists of practicing four to five hours a day, dieting and discipline.

Currently, Witt is competing for her fourth straight European title. A third straight world championship in Geneva in March would make her the first woman to take three in a row since Peggy Fleming did it in 1966 through 1968.

Meantime, the 5-foot-5, 114-pound wunderkind has declared herself a candidate for the ruling Communist Party--her real sponsor.

“In this way, I can better contribute to the strengthening of our state,” said Witt, whose mother is a physical therapist and whose father is a director at a seed co-op.

“I feel a little bit like a diplomat in training clothes who can never lose sight of the fact that we are a workers’ and farmers’ state,” she added.

Workers’ and farmers’ state? How can that be with the flashy, revealing get-ups Witt wears in competition and the alluring skating routines she tends to favor? Isn’t she a little like a Western-style sex symbol?

“That’s, of course, a matter of opinion,” she replied.