It was 2014 and many years since I had last had a run-in with Katarina and I was reprising my role as the analyst for NBC for the Olympics - this time in Russia. I arrived in Sochi and checked into my hotel, the Azimut, a 4-star hotel right on the Black Sea with terraces overlooking the water.

The “top talent” including my commentator, Terry Gannon, and my color commentator, Apolo Ohno, were staying just down the road at the 5-star Radisson Blu Hotel but I was happy - the 4-star Azimut Hotel was lovely and was the closest hotel to the secure zone for all of the action - the media center, production booths, and the five down-mountain venues including hockey, curling, short track, long track, figure skating - all of them were just outside my front door. I had brought my folding bike and would end up riding on the boardwalk along the Black Sea.

There was a bit of a snafu upon checking in. After receiving my room key from the young, attractive receptionist, I walked up to what was to be my room for the next 23 days, which, sadly was on the city view side of the hotel. However, after swiping my key and opening the door, I stumbled upon a naked man about to enter the shower. I backed away with my apologies as he hastily toweled up and I returned to the reception area. Dasha, the young lady with the musical voice who had checked me in, heard about my escapade upstairs and apologized. “There are lots of people arriving from NBC right now - the room must have gotten double booked - let me find you another one.” I asked with my most charming smile, “well, given the mixup - any chance you can get me a room with a sea view?”

She typed for a bit and then returned the smile. “As a matter of fact, I have a lovely room with a balcony overlooking the Black Sea on the 5th floor. Let me take you up to make sure there are no other… predicaments.” She gave me her own dazzling smile and we took the elevators up. Sure enough, it was one of the nicest rooms in the entire complex. She handed the room key to me with both hands and returned to her post. Meanwhile, I unpacked and then, as is normal, jumped onto my laptop to check my emails and get some work done.

As I logged into the wifi, I was suddenly notified of other several dozen other users on the network - including my friend, former competitor, and fellow analyst Steven Bradbury. And there, on the list was none other than Katarina Witt. I clicked on the link and was then prompted, “click here for Katerina Witt’s public hard drive.”

Well, curiosity killed the Kat so, of course, I clicked through. Suddenly I was literally inside Katerina Witt’s computer with access to many, but, not all her files. I backed out and tried the same with my friend Steven Bradbury but was blocked from opening any folders. I messaged him and asked if he could see me and my folders and he said he could see me but he also could not access my files. However, for some reason, I could access much of Katerina’s computer. Feeling a bit guilty but also slightly smug I browsed her “Photos” folder and saw hundreds of photos of her posing with famous people over the years. That was the most common type of photo, but the second most common were selfies of herself in bikinis. Her narcissism apparently took only two forms. For laughs, I took two screenshots - one of a somewhat risque bikini photo and the other a screenshot of all the folders that I was potentially able to access on the sidebar. Then I got back to work and forgot about it.

Over the next few days, I began working with Apolo and Terry Gannon to plan our approach for the broadcast. I also got to connect with Summer Sanders, Kristi Yamaguchi, and (now) embarrassingly Billy Busch. Apolo had invited me to go for a bike/run along the boardwalk with him. I disliked him immediately (and I like almost everyone.)

The next day the wifi “glitch” was gone and I had mostly forgotten about it. That is until I saw Katerina in the lobby with a bunch of cameras following her. I wondered if she would still remember me considering I now had a shaved head and it had been another 8 years. I doubted it.

Well in odd serendipity a few days later I was waiting to go through the security checkpoint with Nancy Kerrigan - whom I had not seen in ages when I spotted Katerina in line behind me. I reminded Nancy about our decades-old imagined feud from back in the days of Stars on Ice and we had a laugh about it. As we passed through the metal detector I was stalled - I had a water bottle in my bag that I had forgotten about. They would have to re-run it. Nancy apologized but said she had to run. I waved her off and returned to have my bag re-run through the security protocol sans water. As luck would have it my bag, and Katerina’s bag arrived out of the metal detector at the exact same time.

I said, “hello Katerina” as we both reached for her bags. She made her best pretense at being busy and important. “Hello,” she said.

I said, “you won’t remember me but we were both in the Olympics in Lillehammer in 1994 - its possible I made you angry.” She looked at me, paused, and gave a fake smile, “I must go.”

I said, “might I have one quick picture before you run?” She said, “Oh, I don’t know - I am very busy and people are waiting…” I said, “Ok - no problem - enjoy the games.”

Her actions became very curious at this point. She was not going to let it go. “No, no - you said you want a picture - I make it happen for you.” Now she was doing ME a favor. She snapped in German at her handler and a couple other folks. “Over here,” she said, “the light is good.” So we stepped outside the security booth and her handler took several pictures on my phone. She asked to see them and deleted them and then asked for a few more. Finally she said, “This one is OK.” And then in a huff she was off to her important business.

Perhaps a week later, after posting a blog about all of these events including the aforementioned photos, I was contacted by a member of the German Polizei and a private investigator asking about how I had had access to Katarina’s computer. I wanted to say “Karma is a bitch” but refrained and complied with all their questions sharing exactly how and when I had been able to access her computer. I removed the blog post and promised to remove the two screenshots. Will I see her in 2026? Only time will tell : )

Why Am I Still Alive Pt. 18: The Fourth Time I Met Katarina Witt