Christine Errath

Errath (right) with Dorothy Hamill and Dianne de Leeuw at the 1976 Olympics.

1976 OlympicsChristineErrathFS

Christine Errath performs her free skate at the 1976 Olympics.

Christine Errath (born December 29, 1956, in Berlin, Germany) is a German figure skater who represented East Germany in competition. She is the 1974 World Champion and 1976 Olympic bronze medalist.

Biography

Errath skated for the club SC Dynamo Berlin where she was coached by Inge Wischnewski.

She was especially strong in free skating. In 1972 the changes in judging rules led to a reduction of the importance of compulsory figures, and this worked to her advantage in winning competitions. Representing East Germany, she was World Champion in 1974, three-time European Champion between 1973 and 1975, and winner of the bronze medal at the 1976 Winter Olympics.

Until 1973 her chief rival was Sonja Morgenstern, another skater from East Germany who was coached by Jutta Müller. In 1976 she faced another serious rival named Anett Pötzsch, also coached by Müller. Errath lost the competition to Pötzsch at the 1976 Europeans, winning only the bronze medal, but came back to medal at the Olympics and the next Worlds.

Errath was married to Ulrich Trettin, a former East German tennis champion. The marriage ended in divorce. She is the mother of two children.

Christine Errath currently works for the German TV station MDR, which produces programs in the German states of Saxony, Thuringia, and Saxony-Anhalt. She hosts the show "Außenseiter Spitzenreiter" (“Top model Outsider”) with Hans-Joachim Wolfram (creator of the Dynamo Dresden hymn "Dynamo Fever").

Competitive highlights

Event	1968-69	1969-70	1970-71	1971-72	1972-73	1973-74	1974-75	1975-76
Winter Olympics				8th				3rd
World Championships			9th	10th	3rd	1st	3rd	2nd
European Championships	18th		7th	5th	1st	1st	1st	3rd
East German Championships	3rd	3rd	2nd	2nd	2nd	1st	1st
Richmond Trophy				1st