SIDELINES : Ex-Olympian Witt’s Refusal to Aid Secret Police Cost Millions

Katarina Witt, East Germany’s retired Olympic figure skating star, says--to her regret now--she passed up the chance to earn millions from Western sponsors by refusing to work for the Communist Stasi secret police.

Witt, writing in the latest issue of the West German magazine Stern, said she had received offers from abroad worth a total of $3.1 million between 1984 and 1988 to advertise Western products. The two-time Olympic champion said the offers went to East German sports officials, who refused to give her permission to sign the contracts.

Witt said she later received two visits from Stasi agents who told her that she could accept the sponsors’ offers if she agreed to work for the secret police.

Witt said she refused, but “to be honest, I later many times regretted it.”