Anett Pötzsch

Anett Pötzsch won the gold medal at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympic Games, which was the first female Olympic title for a German singles female figure skater. Four years earlier she had placed fourth. In 1978 and 1980 Pötzsch was World Champion, after placing second in 1977 and 1979. She won four consecutive European Championships from 1977-80, after she had been runner-up in 1976 and third in 1975. Domestically she was second at the German Nationals in 1974 and 1975, winning that title in 1976-80.

Pötzsch later became a trainer and international adjudicator. However, the combined German Skating Union had significant concerns about her GDR past. Nevertheless, in 2004 she was a “Technical Specialist” for a new rating system of the International Skating Union and supervised the rating system judges at the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. In 2009 she became a trainer with the Dresden Skating Club. Pötzsch married Axel Witt, Katarina Witt’s brother, while her second marriage was to the pairs skater Axel Rauschenbach.