BERLIN (AFP) - Double Olympic figureskating champion Katarina Witt of Germany has brought the curtain down on her career after closing out her farewell tour before an 8,000 crowd in the northern city of Hannover.

"For weeks I have been reflecting on what I was going to say at this particular moment. I just want to say - thankyou," said Witt, 42, as she bade the crown an emotional goodbye Tuesday night following a two-hour show.

The four-time world champion and six-time European champion had criss-crossed the country over the past three weeks with gala shows at venues including Berlin and Chemnitz, which when she was growing up there was called Karl-Marx Stadt in the former East Germany.

Witt, still hugely popular in her homeland despite her support for the former East's Communist whose sporting icon she was, said she simply wanted to enjoy her free time after retirement.

"Since I was a child I always had an annual goal," she explained in an interview with Die Welt newspaper, whereas now she can relax.

Witt said her Olympic triumphs of 1984 and 1988 remained great memories, particularly the latter, when she skated to an interpretation of Carmen.

"I realised the eyes of the world were on me," said the woman dubbed "Germany's little fiancee" or indeed the "beautiful face of Socialism" before the Eastern regime collapsed in 1989.

An attempt to return to the top ended in failure at the 1994 Lillehammer Games but Witt insisted that she now has "tons of propositions," while she is already working as a presenter for broadcaster ProSieben and also writing a book on fitness.

Source: AP