Stasi Files Reveal Detailed Surveillance of Former Figure Skating Champion Katarina Witt

German newspaper Bild released excerpts from former East German secret‑police (Stasi) files that tracked two‑time Olympic gold‑medalist Katarina Witt from the age of seven. The surveillance, recorded under the code name “OV Flop,” logged her travel, contacts and even intimate details, including a precise note that “between 6 a.m. and 6:18 a.m. sexual intercourse occurred.”

The documents show how the DDR’s sport ministry and the Stasi treated Witt as a propaganda asset, monitoring every aspect of her private life throughout her career and beyond. The revelations add new depth to the already known picture of state control over elite athletes in the former German Democratic Republic.