The sex symbol of communism is back.
A little over a week ago, Katarina Witt laced up her skates competitively for the first time in three years for the beginning of what promoters hope will become a professional figure skating tour. Just before winning the women`s title at Les Dieux de la Glace handily, Witt turned her attention to television.
Specifically, American television. More specifically, a role in CBS Sports` coverage of the next two Winter Olympics.
The network recently signed the former East German gold-medal winner to a multiyear contract that covers the 1992 and `94 Winter Games as well as some skating exhibitions.
”I`m looking forward to going to the Olympics and commentating,” said Witt in her best broken English. ”I`ve been to the Olympics twice as a skater and I know a little bit about what`s going on there. I`ll be telling stories about how nervous you can be and how to get over it. I`m looking forward to seeing it from the other side.”
As recently as 1988, Witt was from the other side. But all that changed when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down in 1989. Now Witt, 25, can traipse around the world doing ice shows and taking acting lessons. But it didn`t come without a price back home.
”When the wall came down, it was very hard for the athletes because people started picking on them, saying we were privileged and everything,”
Witt said. ”People are now having other problems. East Germans now see athletes from Western countries are treated in a good way, too. Because if someone does something special, they get special things. They can see athletes from around the world who can make a lot of money when you`re very good through endorsements, which was impossible for us. There are so many things going on. It takes more than a couple of years to solve every single problem.”
CBS plans to solve some of Witt`s communication problems by keeping her out of the broadcast booth and using her for features and behind-the-scenes analysis during their 11 nights of figure-skating coverage.
”Her English is excellent,” said Mark Harrington, CBS vice president for the Olympics. ”It wouldn`t have been fair to all parties if her English was not up to par.”
One place you won`t see Witt is in the ”kiss and cry” area, where skaters who have just finished their routines await their scores. ABC has turned the cooling-off place into a maudlin intrusion.
”You`ll see her before and after the competition,” said CBS Olympics coordinating producer Mike Pearl. ”We don`t want to clutter up the telecast. We don`t want to leave the impression that the whole broadcast is on her.”
And how will Witt, who has worked for German television in recent competitions (”I really had fun doing it”), prepare for her American TV debut this winter?
”I think I`ll take more English lessons,” giggled Witt, still knowing an award-winning performance when she sees one.
– NBC spiced up its first weekend of Wimbledon coverage with an interview Sunday of Judy Nelson, the soon-to-be-former companion of tennis star Martina Navratilova, about the current legal battle between the two. It was the first TV interview of Nelson, who tearily told sportscaster Gayle Gardner: ”It`s very lonely. I miss not being there (at Wimbledon) with her.” . . . While NBC profited from Sunday`s extra day of play, network officials had to flinch at the work of newcomer Tracy Austin, whose idea of a tough question of Ivan Lendl was. ”What did you think when you were down two sets?”
– Yes, CBS still is carrying regular-season baseball games, although they are certainly hard to find. Saturday`s Cubs-Cardinals contest was the network`s last until the All-Star Game July 9. The much-criticized sporadic showings
(no game next Saturday, for instance) have taken their toll on the production crew.
”It`s difficult to get rhythm when you`re on a week and off two weeks,” said Ric LaCivita, the network`s coordinating producer for baseball. ”We do the best we can. In a lot of ways, Year 2 has been easier than Year 1, at least with Jack (Buck), Tim (McCarver), (director) Joe Aceti and myself. We know each other a lot better.
”We really came out of the blocks (this year) with a good rhythm with each other; we knew each other well. But it`s still difficult. You feel rusty when you`re away from this game for a couple of weeks and try to come back and capture it.”
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It`s no wonder the network`s executive producer for sports, Ted Shaker, made a rare road trip to Chicago over the weekend, partly to rally the troops. ”I put the shows together,” explained Shaker. ”I don`t make the deals.”
And, thanks to use of a blimp and an unusually high complement of 10 cameras (two in center field and one on the roof in addition to one in the blimp), CBS put on a spectacular show Saturday.
– BET will carry, on same-day tape at 7 p.m. Monday, the first meeting of sprinters Carl Lewis and Ben Johnson since the 1988 Olympics during a two-hour telecast from the track meet at Lille, France. . . . Local sportscaster George Offman has put together a history of the knuckleball for airing this week on National Public Radio (WBEZ in Chicago). Offman said American League umpire Larry Barnett says ”it`s the hardest pitch to call.” . . . Star Cablevision, which reaches systems in northern Wisconsin as well as southern Illinois, and U.S. Cablesystems, with affiliates in northern Indiana, are scheduled to start carrying SportsChannel Monday.