Christa Luding

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Medal record
Competitor for  East Germany
Speed Skating
Olympic Games
Gold	1984 Sarajevo	500 m
Gold	1988 Calgary	1,000 m
Silver	1988 Calgary	500 m
Bronze	1992 Albertville	500 m
Track cycling
Silver	1988 Seoul	Sprint

Christa Luding-Rothenburger (born 4 December 1959 in Weißwasser, East Germany) is a former speed skater and track cyclist.

[edit] Short biography

Before the German reunification in 1990, Luding competed for East Germany – afterwards for Germany. For more than 10 years, she was one of the world's best sprinters in speed skating. At the World Sprint Championships in speed skating, she became World Champion twice (in 1985 and 1988), won silver twice (in 1986 and 1989), and won 4 bronze medals (in 1979, 1983, 1987, and 1992). She has also won the 500 m World Cup 3 times (in 1986, 1988, and 1989) and the 1,000 m World Cup once (in 1988).

In 1980, she was convinced by her coach, Ernst Luding (whom she would marry after the 1988 Winter Olympics), to take up cycling during the off-season. Originally, she was told to stick to skating, but finally the president of the East German sports federation gave her permission to enter international cycling competitions. At the 1986 World Cycling Championships, she won track cycling gold in the women's sprint and silver the following year. This made her the second woman (after Sheila Young) to become World Champion in both speed skating and cycling.

In 1988, she earned the distinction of being the first and only athlete to win Summer and Winter Olympic medals in the same year. It also made her the first woman, and the third athlete overall, to win a medal in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. At the Winter Games in Calgary, Alberta, Canada she won the gold medal in the 1,000 m speed skating event and silver in the 500 m. Seven months later, she won the silver medal in the (1,000 m) sprint in track cycling at the Summer Games in Seoul, South Korea.

After winning a bronze medal at the 1992 World Sprint Championships (in which she was unable to win any of the 4 distances), Luding-Rothenburger ended her speed skating career.

[edit] Medals

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

[edit] World records

Over the course of her career, Rothenburger skated 8 world records:

[edit] Personal records

[edit] See also

• SV Dynamo

[edit] References

• Christa Rothenburger at SkateResults.com
• Christa Luding-Rothenburger at DESG (Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft) (German)
• Profile at official Olympic Movement website