Mandy Wötzel
Encyclopedia
Mandy Wötzel is a German
pair skater
who represented East Germany and later Germany
in international competition. With partner Ingo Steuer
, she is the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist.
), Saxony
, then part of East Germany
, and began skating as a child. She skated for the club SC Karl-Marx-Stadt, which was renamed after the German reunification
into SC Chemnitz. Her first partner was Axel Rauschenbach
. The pair won the silver medal at the 1989 European Figure Skating Championships
. They competed together at the 1992 Winter Olympics
. In 1992, Wötzel suffered a serious accident during practice, leaving her in a coma for a short time. Soon afterwards, she and Rauschenbach stopped skating together.
Wötzel swiftly found a new partner in Ingo Steuer
. After less than a year together, they won the silver medal at the 1993 European Figure Skating Championships
and the World Figure Skating Championships
.
She had a bad fall at the 1994 Winter Olympics
. Halfway through the long program, skating to the music from Basic Instinct
, Wötzel tripped over her toe pick and fell to the ice, cutting her chin. Steuer carried her off the ice. The pair was forced to withdraw from the competition and Wötzel had to have stitches. They successfully skated the same program at the World Championships one month later, and finished fourth. In a humorous touch, after the program, Steuer carried Wötzel off the ice just as he had at the Olympics.
Wötzel and Steuer continued to skate successfully over the next few years, and won a European championship in 1995. At the 1997 World Championships in Lausanne
, Switzerland
, they won their first World title. Steuer badly injured his shoulder when a passing car's side window hit him as he was riding on his motorcycle in Chemnitz before the 1998 Olympics. Wötzel underwent knee surgery in 1997. Despite these handicaps, they performed two solid programs with no major mistakes. They won the bronze medal. The pair retired after the 1998 Olympics and skated in shows and professional events.
In a 2006 interview, Wötzel said that their partnership was "hell" and she felt anxiety at the sight of Steuer.
In autumn 2006 Mandy Wötzel participated in the TV-show Dancing on Ice
on the German channel RTL
. Her partner there was boxer Sven Ottke
.
Mandy Wötzel married in 2007, and moved the same year to Australia
with her Australian husband.
In 2008, Mandy Wötzel started teaching at the Olympic Ice Rink in Oakleigh, Melbourne.
(with Axel Rauschenbach)
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
pair skater
Pair skating
Pair skating is a figure skating discipline. International Skating Union regulations describe pair teams as consisting of "one lady and one man." The sport is distinguished from ice dancing and single skating by elements unique to pair skating, including overhead lifts, twist lifts, death spirals,...
who represented East Germany and later Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in international competition. With partner Ingo Steuer
Ingo Steuer
Ingo Steuer is a German pair skater and skating coach.With partner Mandy Wötzel, he was the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist the 1997 World champion, the 1995 European champion, and a four-time German national champion...
, she is the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist.
Biography
Wötzel was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (ChemnitzChemnitz
Chemnitz is the third-largest city of the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Chemnitz is an independent city which is not part of any county and seat of the government region Direktionsbezirk Chemnitz. Located in the northern foothills of the Ore Mountains, it is a part of the Saxon triangle...
), Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
, then part of East Germany
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
, and began skating as a child. She skated for the club SC Karl-Marx-Stadt, which was renamed after the German reunification
German reunification
German reunification was the process in 1990 in which the German Democratic Republic joined the Federal Republic of Germany , and when Berlin reunited into a single city, as provided by its then Grundgesetz constitution Article 23. The start of this process is commonly referred by Germans as die...
into SC Chemnitz. Her first partner was Axel Rauschenbach
Axel Rauschenbach
Axel Rauschenbach is a German pair skater who competed for Germany and, before its reunification, East Germany. With Mandy Wötzel, he is the 1989 European silver medalist, the 1989 & 1990 East German national champion, and 1991 German national champion...
. The pair won the silver medal at the 1989 European Figure Skating Championships
European Figure Skating Championships
The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion...
. They competed together at the 1992 Winter Olympics
1992 Winter Olympics
The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 8 to 23 February 1992 in Albertville, France. They were the last Winter Olympics to be held the same year as the Summer Olympics, and the first where the Winter Paralympics...
. In 1992, Wötzel suffered a serious accident during practice, leaving her in a coma for a short time. Soon afterwards, she and Rauschenbach stopped skating together.
Wötzel swiftly found a new partner in Ingo Steuer
Ingo Steuer
Ingo Steuer is a German pair skater and skating coach.With partner Mandy Wötzel, he was the 1998 Olympic bronze medalist the 1997 World champion, the 1995 European champion, and a four-time German national champion...
. After less than a year together, they won the silver medal at the 1993 European Figure Skating Championships
European Figure Skating Championships
The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion...
and the World Figure Skating Championships
World Figure Skating Championships
The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion...
.
She had a bad fall at the 1994 Winter Olympics
1994 Winter Olympics
The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Lillehammer failed to win the bid for the 1992 event. Lillehammer was awarded the games in 1988, after having beat...
. Halfway through the long program, skating to the music from Basic Instinct
Basic Instinct
Basic Instinct is a 1992 erotic thriller directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Joe Eszterhas, and starring Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone....
, Wötzel tripped over her toe pick and fell to the ice, cutting her chin. Steuer carried her off the ice. The pair was forced to withdraw from the competition and Wötzel had to have stitches. They successfully skated the same program at the World Championships one month later, and finished fourth. In a humorous touch, after the program, Steuer carried Wötzel off the ice just as he had at the Olympics.
Wötzel and Steuer continued to skate successfully over the next few years, and won a European championship in 1995. At the 1997 World Championships in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, they won their first World title. Steuer badly injured his shoulder when a passing car's side window hit him as he was riding on his motorcycle in Chemnitz before the 1998 Olympics. Wötzel underwent knee surgery in 1997. Despite these handicaps, they performed two solid programs with no major mistakes. They won the bronze medal. The pair retired after the 1998 Olympics and skated in shows and professional events.
In a 2006 interview, Wötzel said that their partnership was "hell" and she felt anxiety at the sight of Steuer.
In autumn 2006 Mandy Wötzel participated in the TV-show Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice
Dancing on Ice is a British television show co-hosted by Christine Bleakley and Philip Schofield, in which celebrities and their professional partners figure skate in front of a panel of judges. The format, devised by LWT and Granada Television, has been a prime-time hit in eight different...
on the German channel RTL
RTL Television
Rtl.de' redirects here. For other uses, see RTL.RTL Television , or simply RTL, is a German commercial television station distributed via cable and satellite along with DVB-T , in larger population centres...
. Her partner there was boxer Sven Ottke
Sven Ottke
Sven Ottke, known as "The Phantom", is a German former professional boxer who was the IBF/WBA super middleweight champion...
.
Mandy Wötzel married in 2007, and moved the same year to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
with her Australian husband.
In 2008, Mandy Wötzel started teaching at the Olympic Ice Rink in Oakleigh, Melbourne.
Competitive highlights
(with Ingo Steuer)| Event | 1992-93 | 1993-94 | 1994-95 | 1995-96 | 1996-97 | 1997-98 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Olympic Games Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating... |
WD | 3rd | ||||
| World Championships World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion... |
2nd | 4th | 5th | 2nd | 1st | |
| European Championships European Figure Skating Championships The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion... |
2nd | 5th | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | |
| German Championships German Figure Skating Championships The German Figure Skating Championships are a figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of Germany. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.... |
1st | 1st | 1st | 1st | ||
| Grand Prix Final Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final The Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final is an international, senior-level figure skating competition. It is the culmination of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. Skaters compete in men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.... |
3rd | 1st | 2nd | |||
| Skate Canada International Skate Canada International The Skate Canada International is an international, senior-level invitation-only figure skating competition organized by Skate Canada. It is the second competition of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating. The location changes yearly. Medals are awarded in four disciplines: Ladies' singles, Men's... |
1st | 1st | ||||
| Trophée Lalique | 3rd | 2nd | ||||
| Cup of Russia Cup of Russia The Cup of Russia is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. Figure skaters compete in the disciplines of ladies' singles, men's singles, pair skating, and ice dancing. It was held as the Rostelecom Cup in 2009 after... |
1st | |||||
| NHK Trophy NHK Trophy The NHK Trophy is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. Figure skaters compete in the disciplines of ladies' singles, men's singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.... |
3rd | 2nd | ||||
| Nations Cup Bofrost Cup on Ice The Bofrost Cup on Ice was a figure skating competition held in Germany between 1986 and 2004. It was part of the Grand Prix series until 2003, when it was replaced by Cup of China. Following being booted out of the Grand Prix series, a new form of competition was introduced to the Bofrost Cup... |
1st | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 1st |
- WD = Withdrew
(with Axel Rauschenbach)
| Event | 1987-88 | 1988-89 | 1989-90 | 1990-91 | 1991-92 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Olympic Games Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating... |
8th | ||||
| World Championships World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union in which elite figure skaters compete for the title of World Champion... |
8th | 7th | |||
| European Championships European Figure Skating Championships The European Figure Skating Championships is an annual figure skating competition in which figure skaters compete for the title of European Champion... |
5th | 2nd | 5th | ||
| German Championships German Figure Skating Championships The German Figure Skating Championships are a figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of Germany. Skaters compete in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies singles, pair skating, and ice dancing.... |
1st | 2nd | |||
| East German Championships East German Figure Skating Championships The National Championships of the German Democratic Republic in Figure Skating were the figure skating national championship held annually to determine the national champions of the German Democratic Republic, often referred to as East Germany... |
2nd | 1st | 1st | ||
| Skate America Skate America Skate America is an international, senior-level figure skating competition held as part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It is organized by the United States Figure Skating Association. The location changes yearly... |
3rd | ||||
| Trophée de France | 2nd | 1st |