Christa Luding-Rothenburger

Christa Luding-Rothenburger, born Christa Rothenburger on 4 December 1959 in Weißwasser, East Germany, is a former German speed skater and track cyclist. She competed for East Germany before reunification and for Germany afterwards, and for more than ten years she was one of the best sprinters in speed skating, winning the World Sprint Championships in 1985 and 1988 and the 500 m World Cup three times. Her coach Ernst Luding, whom she married after the 1988 Winter Olympics, persuaded her to take up cycling in the off-season, and she won the women's sprint at the 1986 World Cycling Championships. At the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary she won gold in the 1000 m and silver in the 500 m, and seven months later she won silver in the sprint in track cycling at the Summer Games in Seoul, making her the only athlete to win Winter and Summer Olympic medals in the same year. She skated eight world records and ended her speed skating career after a bronze at the 1992 World Sprint Championships.