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The East German medal machine

Broadcast Date: June 18, 1998

Broad-shouldered and muscle-bound, the women of East Germany's swimming team were a veritable medal machine. At the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, East German athletes won 40 gold medals — twice as many as in 1972 — including 11 of 13 golds in women's swimming events. For two decades these women were almost unbeatable in the pool. But after the Berlin Wall fell, the truth emerged: the young athletes were subjected to a state-run program of heavy steroid use.

More than 20 years after their Olympic success in Montreal, former East German coaches, trainers and officials face criminal charges. The former athletes face health problems, and lingering doubts about what they thought had been their finest hours. In 1998, CBC Television's Nancy Durham went to the former East Germany to meet the women who made the Faustian chemical pact two decades ago.

The East German medal machine

• To build a sporting powerhouse that rivalled the United States and the Soviet Union, thousands of East German athletes were given steroids in the 1970s and 1980s. Many female swimmers, often as young as 13, were given steroid pills and injections of testosterone. Often they were told they were just taking vitamins.

• Carola Nitschke, who broke the world breaststroke record at age 14, recalls being given as many as 30 pills a day. In 1998 she became the first doped athlete to voluntarily return her medals and ask that her name be removed from the record books.
• 1986 shotput champion Heidi Krieger received so many steroids that she later had a sex change operation and is now living as Andreas.

• The German government estimates that 10 per cent of the 10,000 doped athletes face serious health issues. After an extensive investigation following the fall of the Berlin Wall, the German government set up a fund to compensate the victims of the doping regime. By the March 2003 deadline just 197 athletes filed applications for compensation, less than half as many as expected. Each will get less than $10,000.

• Ulrike Tauber, featured in this clip, broke the world record for the women's 400m individual medley three times. She took the gold medal in this event at the Montreal Olympics, ahead of Canadians Cheryl Gibson and Becky Smith, who took the silver and bronze medals. Canadian women won five more bronze medals at the Games, all behind East Germans.

• Using foreign substances to enhance performance is an age-old rite. According to the World Anti-Doping Agency, ancient Greek athletes used special diets and stimulating potions. In the 19th century, cyclists and runners used caffeine, strychnine, cocaine and alcohol. Thomas Hicks, winner of the 1904 Olympic marathon, injected himself with strychnine and drank brandy throughout the race.

• Regulations against drugs in sports began in the 1920s and gained urgency after the amphetamine-related deaths of cyclists Knud Enemark Jensen during the 1960 Olympics and Tom Simpson during the 1967 Tour de France. Some sports federations began drug testing in the 1970s.
• Synthetic hormones entered the picture in the 1950s and 60s, but a reliable test was not available until 1974. Anabolic steroids were banned by the International Olympic Committee in 1976.

The East German medal machine

Medium: Television

Program: The National

Broadcast Date: June 18, 1998

Guest(s): Werner Franke, Volker Frischke, Catherine Menschner, Ulrike Tauber

Reporter: Nancy Durham

Duration: 7:22

This clip was edited for copyright reasons.

Last updated:
May 6, 2008