Christa Luding
Luding-Rothenburger in 2020
Personal information
Born (1959-12-04) 4 December 1959
Weißwasser, Bezirk Cottbus, East Germany
Sport
CountryEast Germany
SportSpeed skating
Medal record
Women's speed skating
Representing  East Germany
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1984 Sarajevo 500 m
Gold medal – first place 1988 Calgary 1000 m
Silver medal – second place 1988 Calgary 500 m
Representing  Germany
Bronze medal – third place 1992 Albertville 500 m
Women's track cycling
Representing  East Germany
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place 1988 Seoul Sprint

Christa Luding-Rothenburger (née Rothenburger, born 4 December 1959) is a former speed skater and track cyclist. She was born in Weißwasser, East Germany. Luding is one of the few athletes who have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games,[1] and the first female to win a medal in both the Summer and Winter Games.[2] She is the only athlete to win Winter and Summer Olympic medals in the same year (1988),[2] a feat that is no longer possible due to the staggering of the Winter and Summer Olympic years. In speed skating, she is a two-time Olympic gold medallist, while she is an Olympic silver medallist in cycling.[2]

Biography

Luding-Rothenburger in 1988
Luding-Rothenburger in 1988

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 1000 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. First 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 October 1986, she was awarded a Star of People's Friendship in gold (second class) for her sporting success.[3]

In 1988, she earned the distinction of being the 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 1000 m speed skating event and silver in the 500 m. Seven months later, she won the silver medal in the (1000 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.

Medals

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

Championships Gold medalSilver medalBronze medal
Speed skating
Winter Olympics1984 (500 m)
1988 (1000 m)		1988 (500 m)1992 (500 m)
World Sprint1985
1988		1986
1989		1979
1983
1987
1992
World Cup1986 (500 m)
1988 (500 m)
1988 (1000 m)
1989 (500 m)		1986 (1000 m)
1989 (500 m)
German Sprint1981
1982
1983
1992		1978
1979
1988		1977
German Single Distance1980 (500 m)
1985 (500 m)
1986 (500 m)
1988 (500 m)
1989 (500 m)
1991 (500 m)
1991 (1000 m)		1980 (1000 m)
1984 (500 m)
1986 (1000 m)
1988 (1000 m)
1989 (1000 m)		1983 (500 m)
1983 (1000 m)
1984 (1000 m)
Track cycling
Summer Olympics1988 (Sprint)
World Sprint19861987

World records

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

DistanceResultDateLocation
500 m40.2827 March 1981Medeo
1000 m1:20.9527 March 1981Medeo
500 m40.1828 March 1981Medeo
Sprint combination162.27528 March 1981Medeo
500 m39.6925 March 1983Medeo
Sprint combination161.12026 March 1983Medeo
500 m39.396 December 1987Calgary
1000 m1:17.6526 February 1988Calgary

Personal records

DistanceResultDateLocation
500 m39.1222 February 1988Calgary
1000 m1:17.6526 February 1988Calgary
1500 m2:05.8316 January 1988Davos
3000 m4:50.5917 January 2010Davos
Mini combination176.22717 January 1982Davos
Sprint combination159.50026 February 1989Heerenveen

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gall, Jonnie (18 December 2013). "Who's competed in the summer and winter Olympics?". GrindTV. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Christa Luding-Rothenburger Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
  3. ↑ "Hohe staatliche Auszeichnungen verliehen" [Awarded high state awards]. Neues Deutschland (in German). Vol. 42, no. 243. 15 October 1986. p. 6. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 23 September 2018.
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