Katarina Witt [Times photo: Barbara P. Hernandez]

Katarina Witt showing off more jewels

The Teutonic skater launches a new business after a Playboy session that she says garnered more attention than two gold medals.

By MARY EVERTZ

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 19, 1999

TAMPA -- Wearing a metallic gray cardigan set and body-hugging black velvet pants, ice princess Katarina Witt is melting on this sunny Florida afternoon.

"Do you mind if we go back inside? I'm having a little problem adjusting to the warm weather," she says as she retreats from the balcony of her waterfront suite at the Hyatt Regency Westshore and heads for the air-conditioned living area.

The two-time Olympic gold medalist, four-time world figure skating champion, professional circuit ice skater, star of made-for-TV specials and movies and December's Playboy cover girl was in the Tampa Bay area to launch her new line of jewelry on the Home Shopping Network.

After spending December in Germany, the first week of January skiing in Austria and a few days in snowy Chicago, Witt is experiencing her first warm weather in a couple of months.

Around her neck she is wearing one of her designs, a modernistic sapphire solitaire on a simple snake chain.

She wears a 14-karat gold ring with a pale yellow semiprecious stone on her right hand. She is proud of the design, which she worked on, and pleased that all the pieces in the collection are affordable, ranging from $75 to $300.

Witt is the only woman since the legendary Sonja Henie to win more than one Olympic skating title. She won a gold medal at Sarajevo in 1984 and a gold in Calgary in 1988. But it's not her medals, her skating in hundreds of exhibitions, her acting or her designs that once again have catapulted Witt into international fame. It's the 10-page Playboy photo layout of her in the altogether.

The issue that hit the newsstands in early November sold about three times as fast as a typical issue, according to Todd Zuniga, assistant to the vice president of retail marketing for Playboy in Chicago. On average, 600,000 copies of the magazine are sold each month throughout the world. The German issue was also a big seller. "It was an amazing thing. . . . The copies seemed to be flying off the shelves worldwide," Zuniga said. It was also the first time the magazine featured an athlete in the nude.

"I'm sure that some of my skating audience, when they hear I've taken off my clothes for Playboy, will be shocked," Witt writes in the magazine. "I don't know what to say except that I am ready to do this."

Witt is proud of the issue and reaches into her travel bag to show her copy of it. Leafing through the pages, she says, "The reaction's been amazing. Very, very positive. One of my biggest compliments is, a lot of women go out and buy it and really like the way it was done. I have had a very positive reaction from my family, my skating family and my boyfriend, too.

"The pictures are artistic, athletic and very natural and pure. I think even children could see those pictures . . . not like the triplets," she says, referring to another layout in the issue.

It took Playboy 10 years to convince Witt to pose. "I chose the photographer, Lance Staedler. I wrote the copy for the story, and I own the pictures," she says.

"It's funny how much in demand I have become since doing the layout. You win two gold medals, and you get some offers. Do Playboy and Jay Leno calls you to be on his show," she says, laughing. Looking trimmer than she did during her skating tour last season, Witt says the Playboy shoot was partly responsible for her shaping up.

She works out daily and practices her skating whenever she gets near the ice.

"I believe you can eat anything in moderation," she says. "I love fruits and vegetables and from time to time enjoy a piece of candy," she says.

Keeping in shape is important to being in condition to skate. After a scheduled photo session in Los Angeles this week (this time in skating costumes), she will join Elvis Stojko and the Champions on Ice tour. Though the show is not scheduled in the Tampa Bay area, she will perform in Fort Myers and Tallahassee.

Last year was a banner one for Witt. "I was very lucky, very fortunate that I had the amount of work I had," she says. "I think we all worry about -- how do you say it? -- go down the hill," she says in halting English. Witt thinks being an athlete has been an asset.

"People know me as a person and not as a character in a movie or on TV."

Witt likes working in the movies. She is considering several scripts and hopes to land a role, "but it has to be the right one," she says.

She has a small part in Ronin, with Robert De Niro. "We didn't have any scenes together, but to be asked to be part of the movie was a very big honor and to meet Robert was special. When I did my skate scene, he came out and watched, and that was exciting."

Her boyfriend is a fellow Berliner. Marcus Herrman is associated with a German rock band called Knorr Knorkator. Witt, at 34, is happy with their relationship and says neither is in a hurry to marry.

"It is the '90s, and marriage isn't a must," she says, smiling her famous smile.

Witt is concentrating on her career. "You have to grow, or you will not have longevity with the public," she says, though after 15 years in the public eye, she obviously endures.