Fire & Ice

Even before this, our pictures of her have been vivid. First, there was the marvelously graceful teenager gliding across the ice, and winning the gold, at 1984's Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. Four years later, she did it again in Calgary. In 1994, she reclaimed her amateur status, defied the naysayers and finished seventh with a routine, set to "Where Have All the Flowers Gone," that mourned the destruction of the city where she'd competed a decade earlier. She won four world championships and an Emmy for the 1990 HBO special "Carmen on Ice." She received thousands of fan letters and marriage proposals before her 19th birthday; she turned down overtures from Eileen Ford, who saw in her a potential supermodel. "Sports Illustrated" once called her performance "the perfect blend of art and athletics, pirouettes and panache." She was so frequently dubbed the sexiest woman on skates that she could have retired the title. Now, at the age of 33 and with an appearance on "Arliss" and a role in the movie "Ronin" under her belt, Witt stands to add sexiest woman off skates to her list of honors.

When people ask me why I decided to pose for these photos, I sometimes kid around with them and say, "Because my boyfriend wanted erotic pictures." But that's just a joke. Basically, I have a very comfortable feeling about my body. We're much more open about nudity in Europe anyway, and in East Germany, where I grew up, there were nude beaches. I used to go to them---until, of course, people started to recognize me. They would see me on the beach, look at me and say, "Nice to meet you," but they wouldn't be looking at my face.

I've never done things the typical way, in my life or in my career. When I was an amateur, there was a time when my costumes started to be very controversial: People said the costumes were too sexy, too low-cut. But I think my costumes always supported my program, and helped bring out the purpose of the music, the choreography in the program. I hope I brought more passion to ice skating than most skaters, and maybe more sensuality as well.

I'm sure that some of my skating audience, when they hear I've taken off my clothes for Playboy, will be shocked. They may be uncomfortable with it, or they might ask, "Why?" I don't know what to say, except that I was ready to do this. But I also think that once people see the photos, they'll feel differently. The pictures are beautiful and pure and natural. They're nude, but they still have a feeling of innocence. They're set in nature, in Hawaii, so it's appropriate that I'm naked, and I felt very relaxed. Every morning, for the three days we shot them, I would go see the stylist and ask, "What will I wear today?" And, of course, he'd say, "Nothing." That was our joke.

People always used to write about how I loved to flirt, and

I still do. Who doesn't? I've been thinking a lot about love and sex lately, especially after reading a controversial book about the writer Bertolt Brecht and his relationships with women. The author of the book, Sabine Kebir, advances a breathtaking thesis: For Brecht, sex wasn't just an end in itself or even the high spot of a relationship, but rather the beginning of a love affair. I like the idea that the bed is only a stopover on a journey toward love. Of course, this means that for centuries some couples have wondered why the symphony of love only burbles along, without highlights, without crescendos. It's no wonder if the accompanying music---sex---is made the central movement. There are times when the closeness, the physical attraction, brings men and women together. And, of course, the feeling of losing oneself in somebody's arms---yet at the same time finding oneself there---is irreplaceable. Nothing compares to the intensity of that feeling.

I said some of these same things when I wrote about the book in a German newspaper last year, and the article got a big reaction in my country. I suppose that now I'll get another big reaction all around the world, which is fine. I'm proud of these photos, but when I start to talk about them I sometimes have to laugh and ask, "Who cares what I think about them? It's time to see what other people think."