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Mandy Wötzel (born July 21, 1973) is a German World Champion figure skater.
[edit] Biography
Wötzel was born in Karl-Marx-Stadt (Chemnitz), Saxony, then part of East Germany, and began skating as a child. She skated for the club SC Karl-Marx-Stadt, which was renamed after the German reunification into SC Chemnitz. Her first partner was Axel Rauschenbach. The pair won the silver medal at the 1989 European Championships. In 1992, Wötzel suffered a serious accident during practice, leaving her in a coma for a short time. Soon afterwards, she and Rauschenbach stopped skating together.
Wötzel swiftly found a new partner in Ingo Steuer. After less than a year together, they shocked the world by winning the silver medal at the 1993 World Championships behind the hugely popular Canadians Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler. They were also placed second at the European Championships that year.
Wötzel and Steuer are probably best known for their fall at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Halfway through the long program, skating to the music from Basic Instinct, Wötzel tripped over her toe pick and fell to the ice, cutting her chin. Steuer carried her off the ice. The pair was forced to withdraw from the competition and Wötzel had to have stitches. They successfully skated the same program at the World Championships one month later, and finished fourth. In a humorous touch, after the program, Steuer carried Wötzel off the ice just as he had at the Olympics.
Wötzel and Steuer continued to skate successfully over the next few years, and won a European championship in 1995. At the 1997 World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland, they won their first World title. They were hotly tipped for the 1998 Olympics but Steuer badly injured his shoulder when a passing car's side window hit him as he was riding on his motorcycle in Chemnitz. Wötzel underwent knee surgery in 1997. Despite these handicaps, they performed two solid programs with no major mistakes. They won the bronze medal, after their rivals Yelena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze were placed ahead of them in a controversial judging decision.
The team retired after the 1998 Olympics and turned professional.
In autumn 2006 Mandy Wötzel participated in the TV-show Dancing on Ice on the German channel RTL. Her partner there was boxer Sven Ottke.
Mandy Wötzel married in 2007, and moved the same year to Australia with her Australian husband.
[edit] Results in pair skating (with Ingo Steuer, unless specified otherwise)
[edit] Olympic Winter Games
- 1992 – 8th place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1994 – withdrawn after fall in the free program and the following injury of Mandy Wötzel
- 1998 – 3rd place
- 1988 – 8th place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1989 – not participated
- 1990 – 7th place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1991 – not participated
- 1992 – not participated
- 1993 – 2nd place
- 1994 – 4th place
- 1995 – 5th place
- 1996 – 2nd place
- 1997 – 1st place
- 1998 – not participated
- 1988 – 5th place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1989 – 2nd place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1990 – not participated
- 1991 – 5th place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1992 – 6th place
- 1993 – 2nd place
- 1994 – 5th place
- 1995 – 1st place
- 1996 – 2nd place
- 1997 – 2nd place
- 1998 – 3rd place
- 1988 – 2nd place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1989 – 1st place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1990 – 1st place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1991 – 1st place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1992 – 2nd place with Axel Rauschenbach
- 1993 – 1st place
- 1994 – not participated
- 1995 – 1st place
- 1996 – 1st place
- 1997 – 1st place
- 1998 – not participated
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