A German Figure Skater Performed to Schindler's List Music. The Internet Is Reacting Accordingly.
Nicole Schott is not the first German figure skater to perform to the music from Schindler’s List, but she might be the last.
When Schott took to the ice in the figure skating on Thursday to vie for the gold medal, Pyeongchang’s Gangneung Ice Arena filled with John Williams’ score for Steven Spielberg’s heart-wrenching film. The movie, which is based on real events, tells the story of German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who saved the lives of more than a thousand Jews during the Holocaust by hiring them to work in his factories, preventing them from being shipped to concentration camps.
While Williams’ score is rousing, the subject matter of the film makes it an odd selection for a figure skating performance, especially one by a German skater. The internet couldn’t help but notice the choice, including comedian and noted Olympics enthusiast Leslie Jones.
Um is this weird y’all correct me if I’m wrong cause y’all know I’m a dumb ass some times. @NBCOlympics @Olympics pic.twitter.com/IPNon4VwcM
— Leslie Jones ???? (@Lesdoggg) February 23, 2018
"Oh good, Schindler's List, what a treat we are now in for" -no skating fan ever #PyeongChang2018 #figureskating
— tara lipinski's fact checker (@robojojo) February 23, 2018
Uh,,,, Nicole,,,, a German,,, is skating to,,,,, Schindler’s List???
UM.— Zoe??? (@zmcadler) February 23, 2018
Just tuned into Olympic figure skating and the German figure skater is skating to the theme song from ... Schindler’s List. No joke. Call me crazy but that doesn’t seem right.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) February 23, 2018
German figure skater performing to music from Schindler’s List. Thats...not the choice I’d go with. pic.twitter.com/0B0B3YK9uS
— Sarah (@BookishFeminist) February 23, 2018
The German skater picking the Schindler’s List soundtrack to skate to is certainly a choice.
— Aaron Mehta (@AaronMehta) February 23, 2018
When you realize a German ice skater just performed to a song from Schindler’s List. pic.twitter.com/eIcM3TSHIW
— Diane N. Sevenay (@Diane_7A) February 23, 2018
(Next on the ice is Germany)
You think the worst they can do is fall then you hear Schindler’s List playing! pic.twitter.com/Mdr9HM00bt— SAM6 (@travelong6) February 23, 2018
A German figure skater using a song from Schindler's List feels like something that should have been caught by one of the first 55,000 people it would have had to go through to get here.
— Scott Harris (@ScottHarrisMMA) February 23, 2018
German skater performing to music from Schindler's List #figureskateing #olympics pic.twitter.com/yCKjl52hyy
— Space Orchid ???? (@SpaceOrchid8) February 23, 2018
While the choice raised some eyebrows, as Newsweek points out, Schott was not the first figure skater or even the first German ice skater to take the ice to the score. When the film was released in 1994, both American figure skater Paul Wylie and German champion Katarina Witt performed to the score. At the Sochi Olympics in 2014, Russian skater Yulia Lipnitskaya followed suit. Perhaps Schott’s performance—and the internet reaction to it—will have skaters thinking twice about making a similar selection.