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East Germany : and it's athletes

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01 / Original postEast Germany : and it's athleteslimerickman · 19 Nov 2004 02 / This pagePosts 1–10Page 1 of 1 · chronological order 03 / Latest replyPost #10artmichalek · 18 Jan 2006

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Bike Cafe
Published
19 November 2004
Last activity
18 January 2006
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limerickman
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Race licensingJan Ullrich

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  1. Original post
    limerickman
    Archived post
    #1

    A pal of mine is currently completing a thesis on "Physiology - and the Biomechanics of Drugs in Sport".

    As part of his thesis, he has been visited the former East Germany and gathering data about the regime of East German sport under Mr.Erich Honecker in the
    1970/1980's.

    For those of you old enough to remember, the East German literally wiped the floor with regard to international sport in the 1970/1980's.
    Their athletes, swimmers, rowers, cyclists decimated records and had a stranglehold on the podium places.

    My friend has some excellent accounts of the Kornelia Ender, Wladomar Cierpinski, Kristin Otto, Marlies Guhr, Marita Koch & Co, training methods and
    supplements.
    He told me that he went to a Masters swimming event in Liepzig and he says that Kornelia Ender (now in her mid-forties with three children) is still able to
    destroy the opposition.
    (I well remember the US swimmers complaining about how Ender & Co swept the boards in Montreal).

    My pal also interviewed Wladomar Cierpinski - double Olympic marathon gold medallist, 1976 and 1980 (only Abibe Bikila has equalled Cierpinski's record).
    Cierpinski can still run marathons under 3 hours !

    My mate is collating information - and would be interested in any opinions people may have in respect of East German sport.
    Perhaps some of you competed in cycling/other sports against them ?

    Thanks

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  2. lumpy
    Archived post
    #2

    They did some amazing and frightening things with steroids - remember some of those women :eek: Unfortunately for many of the athletes, the lack of knowledge of how to safely use them caused a lot of bad side effects.

    They were definitely ahead of the curve with chemical performance improvement.

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  3. limerickman
    Archived post
    #3

    Message for Jim Feeley : Jim can you send me a message to my user address
    on this forum.

    I got your mail.

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  4. EoinC
    Archived post
    #4

    Aside from the well-known drug enhancements and bearded-women, many of the East Germans also showed a pretty incredible level of commitment and focus. Whether this was also related to the chemical intakes, the training regimes, or just a desire to succeed, I don't know, but it was certainly present and intimidating. Impressively powerful presence. Nothing empirical to add...

    Report
  5. dw_moto
    Archived post
    #5

    I think it would also be interesting to look at athletes who grew up in the athletic-minded East Germany (like Jan Ullrich and some other T-Mobile riders).

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  6. limerickman
    Archived post
    #6
    dw_moto said:

    I think it would also be interesting to look at athletes who grew up in the athletic-minded East Germany (like Jan Ullrich and some other T-Mobile riders).

    East Germany collapsed in 1989.
    Some years before Jan Ullrich and Co made their appearance in the peloton.

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  7. limerickman
    Archived post
    #7
    EoinC said:

    Aside from the well-known drug enhancements and bearded-women, many of the East Germans also showed a pretty incredible level of commitment and focus. Whether this was also related to the chemical intakes, the training regimes, or just a desire to succeed, I don't know, but it was certainly present and intimidating. Impressively powerful presence. Nothing empirical to add...

    Eoin,

    I read Steve Redgraves (the Olympic rower) biography so time back.
    He tells of how the East Germans were the best rowing team around and how even he had difficulty trying to beat them.

    With the fall of East Germany, the head coach of their team was recruited by the British rowing team to train them.
    At that point, Redgrave, a double Olympic gold medallist could not believe how good Jurgen Groebler was as a coach.
    Redgrave said that his rowing improved significantly and he would never have won 5 gold medals without Groeblers help.
    Redgrave states in his book that he never ever used PED's.
    Perhaps some of their success was down to hard work.

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  8. EoinC
    Archived post
    #8
    limerickman said:

    East Germany collapsed in 1989.
    Some years before Jan Ullrich and Co made their appearance in the peloton.

    Lim, I think DW was pointing to Jan having grown up in East Germany during the time that it was a sporting powerhouse, not necessarily that he was a direct product of it. Of course, I could be wrong...DW?

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  9. EoinC
    Archived post
    #9
    limerickman said:

    Eoin,

    I read Steve Redgraves (the Olympic rower) biography so time back.
    He tells of how the East Germans were the best rowing team around and how even he had difficulty trying to beat them.

    With the fall of East Germany, the head coach of their team was recruited by the British rowing team to train them.
    At that point, Redgrave, a double Olympic gold medallist could not believe how good Jurgen Groebler was as a coach.
    Redgrave said that his rowing improved significantly and he would never have won 5 gold medals without Groeblers help.
    Redgrave states in his book that he never ever used PED's.
    Perhaps some of their success was down to hard work.

    That's something that I hope your pal will unravel, Lim. The drugs certainly played a big part, but I don't think they were sufficient on their own. With a relatively small population (around 16.7 million during the 1980's), East Germany gained considerable sporting success across a broad range of disciplines.
    I'm guessing that coaching techniques and the determination brought about by sport being a means to lift yourself above the burdens of the masses, played a large rôle in the domination that existed. To focus solely on the PED's would be to miss part of the picture.
    Whilst some of the accusations I remember being laid against the East Germans were that they were State-sponsored professionals competing in amateur competitions, other Nations, including the USA, had extensive Government-sponsored training bodies operating at the same time.
    It must be a very interesting research subject. Let us know what your pal comes up with.

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  10. artmichalek
    Archived post
    #10
    limerickman said:

    East Germany collapsed in 1989.
    Some years before Jan Ullrich and Co made their appearance in the peloton.


    Ullrich won his first race at age 9, and attended the SC Dynamo sports school. Though the government collapsed when he was about 16, those early years probably had some influence.

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