Singles, Women

There was little doubt that East Germany would take home the gold medal from Calgary in the women’s luge. After the country’s clean sweep of the medals in Sarajevo four year earlier, they had repeated this feat at both World Championships held since. The reigning Olympic Champion, Steffi Martin, won the title in 1985, but then left to get married and become a mother. In her absence, the 1987 world title went to Cerstin Schmidt. Both Schmidt and Martin (now married as Walter) were in Calgary, supplemented by the newly crowned European Champion, Ute Oberhoffner (who had won bronze in Sarajevo under her maiden name Weiß). It was soon clear that none of the other competitors stood any chance of obtaining a medal, and the three East German women finished 1-2-3 in each of the four heats. But between them, the competition was quite close. Walter won the first run, but Oberhoffner took the lead after day one. The third run was delayed by a day due to stormy weather, and saw Walter moving up to first again, defending a 0.143 second lead in the final run. Oberhoffner had the best time on the final run, but with only a 0.011 second margin. Walter’s second gold medal made her the first woman to retain her Olympic title, a feat not repeated through 2006. The East German medal sweep was the third in the event, after 1972 and 1984.