Witt Claims Secret Police Monitored Her Sex Life -- Skater Realized She Was `Trapped In Spider's Web,'

HAMBURG, Germany - Olympic figure skating champion Katarina Witt claims the Communist secret police had her under such close tabs that they even knew when she was having sex.

Witt, in an interview with the magazine Sports, said she was the target of intense scrutiny by Communist East Germany's secret police, the Stasi.

"I was really trapped, as in a spider's web," Witt was quoted in Sports.

Witt, the 1984 and '88 Olympic gold medalist who is attempting a comeback, was one of East Germany's best known stars, known as "Socialism's prettiest face."

Excerpts of the interview were published yesterday in advance of the magazine's appearance on the newsstands later this week.

Witt said her upcoming autobiography will include portions of the thorough files the Stasi kept on her, but it won't reveal the names of people who spied on her, some of whom were her friends.

"There will be no revenge," she said. "It is easy to point the finger at someone without asking for their motives and reasons."

She said the Stasi kept her under such close surveillance that it once even recorded the length of her sexual intercourse.

One of the files based on informants' accounts was entitled: "Sexual intercourse: From 2,000 to 2,007."

"It's absolutely incredible," Witt said.

The Stasi took great interest in Witt's dance of honor with Norbert Schramm, the European skating champion from West Germany, at the close of the 1983 European championships.

"They thought I had fallen in love with him," she said.

Witt has picked the song, "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," as theme music for her free skate, with which she hopes to qualify for the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway, in February. The anti-war song was made famous in Germany by Marlene Dietrich, who sang it in translation.

Witt will perform the routine at the German championships in mid-December, the first stage in her comeback. Witt, who will turn 28 on Dec. 3, needs to finish among the top three at the German championships to have a chance of qualifying.

Witt won the world championships in 1984, '85, '87 and '88. Since her retirement from amateur athletics after her 1988 wins, she has performed internationally in skating shows.