Karin Enke, from Dresden, was initially a figure skater, placing 9th in the European Championships 1977. But she was very tall, which proved to be a handicap with the juries and she switched to speed skating in 1978. She made the world top in two years, and won the World Sprint Title 1980, still only 18 years old. One week later she won her first Olympic gold medal by winning the 500 m in Lake Placid.

For the next 8 years she was the best female speed skater in the world, winning a total of 11 World Championships (6 sprint and 5 allround) and 8 Olympic medals (3 gold, 4 silver and 1 bronze). In 1984 she was the favourite to win 4 gold medals in Sarajevo, but she "only" managed 2 gold and 2 silver, losing the 500 m gold to her teammate Christa Rothenburger by 26 hundreds and the 3000 m gold to another teammate, Andrea Schöne, by 1,5 seconds.

In March 1986 she was the first woman to skate a sub 2 minutes 1500 m; 1.59,30. This was still a World Record at the start of the clap skate era, and it was not beaten until Catriona Doan did 1.57,87 in Calgary November 1997.

Karin Enke is also known as a woman of many names. In 1981, Karin married a student, and was named Busch-Enke until their divorce shortly afterwards. In 1984, she married a former trainer, Rudolf Kania. After her career, she divorced again, and remarried as Richter.

#1 on the Adelskalender: 8 January 1983 - 15 January 1984, 28 January 1984 - 23 March 1984, 21 March 1986 - 23 February 1988

By Bjarte Hetland, last updated November 26, 2005