Steffi Martin Walter (17 September 1962 – 21 June 2017) was a German

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

r who competed during the 1980s, representing

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. She won two Olympic gold medals in the women's singles event, two gold medals at

FIL World Luge Championships The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non-Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natural T ...

, one gold medal at

, and two silver medals at

FIL European Luge Championships The FIL European Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place since 1914. From 1914 to 1934, these championships were part of the Internationaler Schlittensportsverband (ISSV - International Sled Sport Federat ...

Personal life

Martin was born in

Lauter, Saxony The town of Lauter () lies in the district of Erzgebirgskreis in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, between the two towns of Aue and Schwarzenberg. It lies in the Ore Mountains, 4 km southeast of Aue, and 4 km northwest of Schwarzenber ...

on 17 September 1962. After marriage, she lived in

Großdubrau Großdubrau (German) or Wulka Dubrawa (Upper Sorbian) is a municipality in eastern Saxony, Germany. It belongs to Bautzen district and lies north of the town of Bautzen. The municipality is part of the recognized Sorbian settlement area in Saxon ...

with her husband and had three children. After their first child was born, she took a break from sports but returned later. She quit active sports due to family and health issues and worked as a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

. She completed her studies in law and worked in county administration. She was named an honorary citizen of Lauter in 1998.

Career

Martin participated and won her first silver medal at the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

held at

Winterberg Winterberg ( Westphalian: ''Winnenmerg'') is a town in the Hochsauerland district of North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany and a major winter sport resort of the Wintersport Arena Sauerland. Geography Winterberg is located in the middle of ...

in Women's Single where

Bettina Schmidt Bettina Schmidt (2 June 1960 – 28 April 2019) was an East German luger who competed during the mid-1980s. She was born in Staßfurt, Saxony-Anhalt. She won the silver medal in the women's singles event at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sara ...

took the gold. She won the silver again in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

Hammarstrand Hammarstrand is a locality and the seat of Ragunda Municipality in Jämtland County, Sweden with 1,052 inhabitants in 2010. The town is host to a bobsleigh and luge track. It was built on the dry bed of the former lake Ragundasjön, which drained ...

(

Cerstin Schmidt Cerstin Schmidt (born 5 March 1963 in Zwickau, Bezirk Karl-Marx-Stadt) is an East German luger who competed during the mid to late 1980s. She won the bronze medal in the women's singles event at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. Schmidt ...

won the gold.) Martin won two gold medals in the women's singles event at the

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,303. The village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba, southwest of Plattsburgh. ...

and of

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Oberhof, Germany Oberhof is a town in the Schmalkalden-Meiningen district of Thuringia, Germany. Located in the Thuringian Forest mountain range, it is a winter sports center and health resort. With 1,625 inhabitants (December 2016), it is visited by 144,000 touri ...

. Martin was overall

Luge World Cup The Luge World Cup season is a yearly competition first organized by the International Luge Federation The International Luge Federation ( French: Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (FIL); German: Internationaler Rennrodelverband) is ...

champion in women's singles in 1983–84 shared with fellow East German

. She won gold medal in the women's singles event, first at

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, Yugoslavia at the

1984 Winter Olympics The 1984 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIV Olympic Winter Games (Serbo-Croatian and Slovene: ''XIV. Zimske olimpijske igre''; Cyrillic: XIV Зимске олимпијске игре; mk, XIV Зимски олимписки игр ...

under her maiden name Martin. She then became the first woman to repeat as Olympic champion at

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,30 ...

, Canada in the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

; now under her married name Walter. She completed the events in 2:46:570 and 3:03:973 respectively. Her record was equaled by

Sylke Otto Sylke Otto (born 7 July 1969 in Karl-Marx-Stadt) is a former German luger who competed from 1991 to 2007. Competing in three Winter Olympics, she won the gold medal in the women's singles event in 2002 an ...

by winning gold in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Death

Martin died on 21 June 2017 from cancer. She had been diagnosed in October 2016.

References

External links

Great Olympians
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Steffi 1962 births 2017 deaths People from Erzgebirgskreis Olympic lugers of East Germany German female lugers Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic medalists in luge Lugers at the 1984 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1988 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Saxony Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit (honor clasp) Deaths from cancer in Germany