Gabriele SEYFERT

Gabriele Seyfert won a silver medal at the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics for the former GDR, after placing 19th four years earlier with the mixed German team. She won the 1969 and 1970 World Championships, and was runner-up in 1966-68, although she was a bit overshadowed by US skater Peggy Fleming. At the Europeans Seyfert won the title in 1967 and 1969-70, and was runner-up in 1966 and 1968. Domestically she won 10 consecutive East German titles from 1961-70. In 1966, she was elected Sportswoman of the Year.

Seyfert was coached by her mother Jutta Müller, one of the most successful figure skating coaches of all-time. Under her coaching Seyfert became one of the first and most famous sport stars of the former GDR. In 1970, she surprisingly retired, although she was considered the early favorite for the 1972 Winter Olympic gold. Seyfert later was briefly active in coaching, namely with Anett Pötzsch, and then studied languages and worked as a translator. From 1985-91 she managed the Ice Ballet at the Friedrichstadtpalast in Berlin.

Seyfert and her first husband (non-Olympian ice dancer Eberhard Rüger) had been registered as Inoffizielle Mitarbeiter (unofficial employees) for the Stasi (Ministry for National State Security in the GDR), although she always denied any activities for them. As one of the first real sports stars in the former GDR, she frequently demanded and received privileges, job advantages, and cash contributions from the state via the Stasi. Nevertheless, the state prohibited her relationship with Austrian skater Emmerich Danzer.