Doping in the DDR. Only years later after the fall of the wall separating Berlin and the occurrence of dopings long-term effects on the athletes, details were discovered of East-Germanys doping. They had given many of their athletes anabolic steroid

Doping in the DDR

Doping has always been a problem in competitions. Doping is taking performance enhancing drugs that will give them an unfair advantage over the other sporters. Steroids are especially popular when it comes to doping. Steroids increase the muscles of the athlete which allow him exceed the boundaries that he had before taking steroids. In 1978 Renate Neufeld, a 19 year old sprinter that had fled to west Germany, told the public about the doping in the DDR. This was one of sport’s greatest cover ups; for years the east-German athletes had been taking steroids without anyone finding out about it. The DDR had won 25 medals, of which all were won with the help of drugs. This was not only unfair, there was a moral issue; the athletes’ lives were being risked just for winning. The government was even helping the teams to get the drugs and keep it covered. This was probably due to the rivalry between the West and the East, the cold war.

In the DDR Sport and Fitness have always been, beside the school education, the most important things when the children were being brought up. The talented athletes were being trained until perfection. They were celebrated, not only for their outstanding performance, but rather as an example for the education and the skills of the socialistic state’s workers and farmers. The sporters came from all different social classes. Already in kindergarten age, the children get tested for any special talents. And if one was lucky enough to have a special talent, the state made sure one would get the best education that they had, which could be high schools, universities or even sport schools. In this way, many famous athletes were trained to bring phenomenal performances, in which the physical limitations were to great degree exceeded. Doping made this possible and was used in nearly all sports. The sporters took drugs under medical supervision; using the newest scientific studies, to achieve a huge performance enhancement. The athletes were trained in special sport facilities, where they could live and finish school, this way they were able to keep the doping a secret. Only years later after the fall of the wall separating Berlin and the occurrence of doping’s long-term effects on the athletes, details were discovered of East-Germany’s doping. They had given many of their athletes anabolic steroids, especially the orally taken Turinabol. Turinabol is a steroid that is taken as a tablet. The east-German athletes had Turinabol available as much as they wanted, because it was being produced in their own medical research and production departments. The sporters did not always know that they were being doped; even ten year old children got Turinabol hidden in their food. Even in East-Germany one needed a prescription to get Turinabol, which shows how deep some of the doctors were involved in this. They handed out prescriptions for Turinabol; knowing what it would be used for.

Anabolic-androgenic steroids, also know as AAS, is a drug that, when taken, acts as an artificial male sex hormone, testosterone. Testosterone is the male sex hormone that is produced in the testis of a man. Testosterone signals the body to develop the testis and the prostate as well as muscles, bone mass, hair growth and other male characteristics. Just like the natural testosterone made in our bodies, AAS builds up more muscles by increasing protein synthesis in the cells, meaning that more protein is produced by the cells. If one trains enough the extra protein will turn into muscles; making ...

Doping in the DDR. Only years later after the fall of the wall separating Berlin and the occurrence of dopings long-term effects on the athletes, details were discovered of East-Germanys doping. They had given many of their athletes anabolic steroid

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