Health problems bitter pill for East German doping victims
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 2:52 pm
http://english.people.com.cn/200510/20/ ... 15440.html
Health problems bitter pill for East German doping victims
In September of this year, Germany's state-run compensation fund concluded its case with the doping victims of former East Germany (GDR).
A total of 193 former athletes each received 10,400 euros as compensation, but the lasting physical and mental damage from the state-endorsed doping programme remains.
Sport and drugs often go hand in hand as the "win-at-all-costs" attitude prevails. This was certainly the case in the GDR where the East Berlin regime was determined to beat the capitalist West.
From 1972 to 1988 the GDR established itself as a major force in sport, winning 384 Olympic medals. That didn't include the LA games of 1984, which they boycotted.
In the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, the GDR even finished ahead of the United States in both the gold medal and total medal count, although it soon emerged that the GDR were pumping their swimmers, sprinters and shot-putters with drugs to enhance their medals tally.
After East Germany and West Germany reunited in 1990, the West set up a committee to investigate the activities of East German scientists, and found that virtually all of East Germany's top athletes were victims of a state-run drugs programme.
The medal count was high, but the cost of success turned out to be much higher for the athletes with coaches using Oral-Turinabol, an anabolic steroid nicknamed "the blue bean," on children as young as 11.
Former shot-putter Birgit Boese was one victim when the GDR sporting machine had been pumping her full of drugs, without her knowledge, from the age of 11.
"They (the coaches) said the tablets were vitamin and mineral supplements so we would not get sick from the training," Boese explained.
Years of drug abuse have taken their toll on Boese, whose kidneys and liver now don't function properly. She is also forced to take morphine three times daily.
What's more, Roland Schmidt, a top weightlifter, developed huge breasts that needed to be amputated, while former swimmer Catherine Menschner, 40, endured seven miscarriages.
Athletes also have the agony of waiting to see what health problems their children will inherit.
The impact of excessive drug abuse showed on Heidi Krieger, who won the shot-put crown at the 1986 European championships as a woman before her hormones went into disarray.
Krieger, 40, is now a man having underwent a sex change eight years ago and is called Andreas.
"My voice was growing deeper and my belly had hair on it, but I just wanted to do well," Krieger explained.
The drugs even had an immediate impact with swimmer George Severs found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool.
Severs' parents were told he drowned because of weakness from a strong bout of flu, but 20 years later, an autopsy revealed he died of toxic damage to the liver.
"For those who were high up, people were nothing but material to work with," said former sprinter Innes Geipel.
Manfred Ewald, the head of the GDR sporting federation, was given a 22-month suspended sentence and fine in 2000 while top coaches and doctors were also suspended or fined.
Recently, some 160 former GDR athletes decided to claim damages from Jenapharm, the pharmaceutical company that produced steroids on behalf of the East German government, with each athlete seeking 10,000 euros.
It is estimated that 10,000 former GDR athletes are still reeling from the effects of the drugs and are now fighting high medical costs despite often being too sick to work.
Jenapharm distanced themselves by pointing out that the drugs were in fact legal, and claimed coaches misused them for their own ends.
Financial compensation will certainly help in the short term, but there is a feeling that the athletes want to be portrayed as victims rather than culprits.
They may have been winners on the track or in the swimming pool, but their ill health means they are the main losers from the GDR's mass doping.
Source: China Daily
Health problems bitter pill for East German doping victims
In September of this year, Germany's state-run compensation fund concluded its case with the doping victims of former East Germany (GDR).
A total of 193 former athletes each received 10,400 euros as compensation, but the lasting physical and mental damage from the state-endorsed doping programme remains.
Sport and drugs often go hand in hand as the "win-at-all-costs" attitude prevails. This was certainly the case in the GDR where the East Berlin regime was determined to beat the capitalist West.
From 1972 to 1988 the GDR established itself as a major force in sport, winning 384 Olympic medals. That didn't include the LA games of 1984, which they boycotted.
In the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, the GDR even finished ahead of the United States in both the gold medal and total medal count, although it soon emerged that the GDR were pumping their swimmers, sprinters and shot-putters with drugs to enhance their medals tally.
After East Germany and West Germany reunited in 1990, the West set up a committee to investigate the activities of East German scientists, and found that virtually all of East Germany's top athletes were victims of a state-run drugs programme.
The medal count was high, but the cost of success turned out to be much higher for the athletes with coaches using Oral-Turinabol, an anabolic steroid nicknamed "the blue bean," on children as young as 11.
Former shot-putter Birgit Boese was one victim when the GDR sporting machine had been pumping her full of drugs, without her knowledge, from the age of 11.
"They (the coaches) said the tablets were vitamin and mineral supplements so we would not get sick from the training," Boese explained.
Years of drug abuse have taken their toll on Boese, whose kidneys and liver now don't function properly. She is also forced to take morphine three times daily.
What's more, Roland Schmidt, a top weightlifter, developed huge breasts that needed to be amputated, while former swimmer Catherine Menschner, 40, endured seven miscarriages.
Athletes also have the agony of waiting to see what health problems their children will inherit.
The impact of excessive drug abuse showed on Heidi Krieger, who won the shot-put crown at the 1986 European championships as a woman before her hormones went into disarray.
Krieger, 40, is now a man having underwent a sex change eight years ago and is called Andreas.
"My voice was growing deeper and my belly had hair on it, but I just wanted to do well," Krieger explained.
The drugs even had an immediate impact with swimmer George Severs found dead at the bottom of a swimming pool.
Severs' parents were told he drowned because of weakness from a strong bout of flu, but 20 years later, an autopsy revealed he died of toxic damage to the liver.
"For those who were high up, people were nothing but material to work with," said former sprinter Innes Geipel.
Manfred Ewald, the head of the GDR sporting federation, was given a 22-month suspended sentence and fine in 2000 while top coaches and doctors were also suspended or fined.
Recently, some 160 former GDR athletes decided to claim damages from Jenapharm, the pharmaceutical company that produced steroids on behalf of the East German government, with each athlete seeking 10,000 euros.
It is estimated that 10,000 former GDR athletes are still reeling from the effects of the drugs and are now fighting high medical costs despite often being too sick to work.
Jenapharm distanced themselves by pointing out that the drugs were in fact legal, and claimed coaches misused them for their own ends.
Financial compensation will certainly help in the short term, but there is a feeling that the athletes want to be portrayed as victims rather than culprits.
They may have been winners on the track or in the swimming pool, but their ill health means they are the main losers from the GDR's mass doping.
Source: China Daily