Munich - Two-time Olympic figure-skating gold medallist Katarina Witt was named Thursday as the face of Munich's bid for the 2018 winter Games. The former East German skater has been chosen to chair a 23-strong committee including former footballing great Franz Beckenbauer and several leading political figures which will be working to bring the Games to Bavaria.
Witt, 43, won gold medals for East Germany at the 1984 Sarajevo and 1988 Calgary Olympics.
She also won the world championships in 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1988, and six consecutive European Championships, making her one of the most successful figure skaters of all time.
German Olympic committee president Thomas Bach described Witt as an "excellent choice" as Munich aims to become the first city to host both a winter Games and a summer Games (1972).
"Katarina Witt is internationally the world star of German winter sport," he said.
The committee includes Olympic alpine ski champion Rosi Mittermaier, who won two golds at Innsbruck in 1976, and from the world of politics Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, former president Richard von Weizsaecker and former chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Munich plans to hold ice sport in the city, snow events at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, biathlon and cross-country at Oberammergau, and bob, luge and skeleton events at Koenigsee near Berchtesgaden.
Munich is currently up against two other candidates in Annecy, France and Pyeongchang, South Korea, but other bids may come in by the October 15 deadline.
The International Olympic Committee will choose the 2018 host at its general assembly in Durban, South Africa in July 2011.
