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GDR Doping

East Germany conducted a decades long program to feed performance-enhancing

drugs to their athletes, known officially as State Plan 14!" #he drug regimens, gi$en

either with or without the knowledge of the athletes, resulted in $ictories in international

competitions, including the %lympic Games East Germany had &een a pioneering state in

doping, so much that it was considered to &e the in$entor of doping

'n the se$enties, the (erlin wall was part of a fortified &order that split Germany in two

%fficially, it kept the )est out (ut in reality, it kept East German citi*ens in while their 

go$ernment sought ways to demonstrate communist superiority to the rest of the world

#he origin for sports culture in the GDR can &e found following the war when its people

were poor, malnourished, unhealthy and in need of guidance )ith most fitness centers

destroyed in the air &om&ing campaigns and most e+uipment taken &y the So$iets during

their in$asion of Germany, the go$ernment decided to create the DS Deutscher 

Sportausschuss., which translates to the German sports committee Rare glimpses of life

&ehind the )all suggested a sporting re$olution #alented children were handpicked for 

special sports schools /oaches and doctors were employed full-time to train them Sports

festi$als &ecame highly anticipated national e$ents Successful athletes en0oyed freedoms

not a$aila&le to their fellow citi*ens #his was the communist e+ui$alent of fame and

fortune they &ecame the pu&lic face of the German Democratic Repu&lic

'n the 123 5ontreal Summer %lympics, the world took notice as East Germany, a

relati$ely small country with few pre$ious %lympic wins, triumphed with an impressi$e 46

gold medals #he women7s swim team alone won 11 of 18 swim e$ents, an unprecedented

feat #he total medal count of GDR participants at the )inter and Summer %lympics

from 12" to 1299 amounted to !68 gold, 12! sil$er and 133 &ron*e

#he secret to their success would not come to light for decades: a state-sponsored doping

program ;nder the auspices of East Germany7s elite sports federation, headed &y

5anfred Ewald and monitored &y the 5inistry of State Security known as Stasi., the

go$ernment used doping as part of a decepti$e master plan to secure international

prestige through success in sports Girls as young as 1! were recruited from across the

country, and without their knowledge, were regularly administered untested steroids and

male hormones as part of their training ;ltimately, %lympic gold came at a distur&ing price

for many of the German athletes, specifically side effects ranging from male-type hair 

growth and deepened $oices to li$er and heart disease, depression, infertility,

miscarriages, and e$en death

#he systematic doping &egan in 1234 when Party leaders met with the East German

Sports Performance /ommittee to decide how &est to guarantee gold medals andinternational glory )hat they came up with was

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#he results were great for East Germany &ut a&solutely de$astating for the athletes

in$ol$ed: