Karin Enke

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Olympic medal record
Women’s Speed Skating
Gold 1980 Lake Placid 500 m
Silver 1984 Sarajevo 500 m
Gold 1984 Sarajevo 1,000 m
Gold 1984 Sarajevo 1,500 m
Silver 1984 Sarajevo 3,000 m
Bronze 1988 Calgary 500 m
Silver 1988 Calgary 1,000 m
Silver 1988 Calgary 1,500 m

Karin Enke (born 20 June 1961 in Dresden, East Germany), also known as Karin Busch(-Enke), Karin Kania(-Enke), and Karin Enke-Richter, is a former speed skater, one of the most dominant ones of the 1980s.

Contents

[edit] Short biography

Dominant on all distances (being reigning World Allround Champion and World Sprint Champion, and having won German Single Distance Championships titles on all 5 distances in 1983), Enke was the favourite for all 4 distances at the 1984 Winter Olympics of Sarajevo, but she won "only" 2 gold and 2 silver medals. At the World Cup, Enke had 21 Single Distance victories, but won only one overall World Cup. She retired from speed skating after the 1987/1988 season.

Born as Karin Enke, she married in 1981 and competed as Karin Busch during the 1981/1982 winter. The marriage did not last long and during the 1982/1983 and 1983/1984 winters, she competed as Karin Enke again. After marrying her long-time former trainer – Rudolf Kania – in 1984, she competed as Karin Kania for the rest of her speed skating career. After her career had ended, she divorced and married again and became Karin Enke-Richter.

Like several other female East German skaters who got married after the season had ended (and several of them more than once over the course of their careers), Enke caused some confusion among the speed skating public when she – a skater with a name unfamiliar to them – suddenly won major titles in her "first" season. Commentators were apt to make remarks like "Karin Kania is the skater we knew as Karin Enke last season" and some commentators even, half-jokingly, made remarks like "I wonder what her name will be next season". To alleviate the confusion, Enke kept her maiden name as the first part of her last name after her third marriage, just like Gunda Kleemann (also known as Gunda Niemann and Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann) kept Niemann (the name of her first husband) as the first part of her last name even after her divorce and both before and after her second marriage, which is unusual in most Western European countries.

[edit] Medals

An overview of medals won by Enke at important championships she participated in, listing the years in which she won each:

Championships Gold medal Silver medal Bronze medal
Winter Olympics 1980 (500 m)
1984 (1,000 m)
1984 (1,500 m)		 1984 (500 m)
1984 (3,000 m)
1988 (1,000 m)
1988 (1,500 m)		 1988 (500 m)
World Allround 1982
1984
1986
1987
1988		 1981
1983
World Sprint 1980
1981
1983
1984
1986
1987		 1982
1988
World Cup 1986 (1,000 m) 1986 (500 m)
1986 (1,500 m)
1988 (1,000 m)		 1986 (3,000/5,000 m)
1988 (500 m)
1988 (1,500 m)
1988 (3,000/5,000 m)
European Allround 1981
1982
1983
German Allround 1982
1983
German Sprint 1984
1986		 1983
German Single Distance 1980 (1,000 m)
1983 (500 m)
1983 (1,000 m)
1983 (1,500 m)
1983 (3,000 m)
1983 (5,000 m)
1984 (500 m)
1984 (1,000 m)
1984 (1,500 m)
1986 (1,000 m)
1987 (500 m)
1988 (1,000 m)
1988 (1,500 m)		 1980 (1,500 m)
1986 (500 m)
1986 (1,500 m)
1986 (3,000 m)
1988 (500 m)		 1980 (500 m)

[edit] World records

Over the course of her career, Enke skated 10 world records:

Distance Result Date Location
Mini combination 168.271 14 February 1982 Inzell
1,500 m 2:03.42 9 February 1984 Sarajevo
1,000 m 1:18.84 22 February 1986 Karuizawa
Sprint combination 160.060 23 February 1986 Karuizawa
1,500 m 2:02.23 6 March 1986 Inzell
3,000 m 4:18.02 21 March 1986 Medeo
500 m 39.52 21 March 1986 Medeo
1,500 m 1:59.30 22 March 1986 Medeo
Small combination 168.271 22 March 1986 Medeo
1,000 m 1:18.11 5 December 1987 Calgary

[edit] Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the last column (WR) lists the official world records on the dates that Enke skated her personal records.

Distance Result Date Location WR
500 m 39.24 22 February 1988 Calgary 39.39
1,000 m 1:17.70 26 February 1988 Calgary 1:18.11
1,500 m 1:59.30 22 March 1986 Medeo 2:02.23
3,000 m 4:17.76 5 December 1987 Calgary 4:16.85
5,000 m 7:39.82 22 March 1986 Medeo 7:31.45
Small combination 168.272 22 March 1986 Medeo 171.760
Mini combination 168.271 14 February 1982 Inzell 168.387
Sprint combination 160.060 23 February 1986 Karuizawa 161.120

Note that Enke's personal record on the 500 m was not a world record because Bonnie Blair skated 39.10 at the same tournament (the 1988 Winter Olympics). Enke's personal record on the 1,000 m was not a world record either because (again at the same 1988 Winter Olympics) Christa Rothenburger skated 1:17.65 – 0.05 seconds faster.

[edit] References

Olympic champions in women's 500 m speed skating
1960: Helga Haase  | 1964: Lidia Skoblikova | 1968: Lyudmila Titova | 1972: Anne Henning | 1976: Sheila Young | 1980: Karin Enke | 1984: Christa Rothenburger | 1988: Bonnie Blair | 1992: Bonnie Blair | 1994: Bonnie Blair | 1998: Catriona LeMay Doan | 2002: Catriona LeMay Doan | 2006: Svetlana Zhurova 
Olympic champions in women's 1000 m speed skating
1960: Klara Guseva  | 1964: Lidia Skoblikova | 1968: Carry Geijssen | 1972: Monika Pflug | 1976: Tatyana Averina | 1980: Natalya Petruseva | 1984: Karin Enke | 1988: Christa Rothenburger | 1992: Bonnie Blair | 1994: Bonnie Blair | 1998: Marianne Timmer | 2002: Chris Witty | 2006: Marianne Timmer 
Olympic champions in women's 1500 m speed skating
1960: Lidia Skoblikova  | 1964: Lidia Skoblikova | 1968: Kaija Mustonen | 1972: Dianne Holum | 1976: Galina Stepanskaya | 1980: Annie Borckink | 1984: Karin Enke | 1988: Yvonne van Gennip | 1992: Jacqueline Börner | 1994: Emese Hunyady | 1998: Marianne Timmer | 2002: Anni Friesinger | 2006: Cindy Klassen 


Leaders of the Adelskalender women

Natalya Petruseva - Andrea Ehrig-Mitscherlich - Karin Enke - Gabi Zange-Schönbrunn - Gunda Niemann - Claudia Pechstein - Anni Friesinger - Cindy Klassen
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