So, I guess it was covered before, but I had this question...
I do not think I have to tell you that East Germany had a very effective state sponsored doping program -which could be mentioned in the "Are PED safe thread"-. So effective that some of the records set in the 80's are plain and simply out of reach (only with the "suit frenzy" that broke 50 WRs or so have they been erased in women's natation...). But hey, they didn't test positive a lot.
The program was very large: young prospects were put on the medecine very early. It was also mandatory for athlets and coaches alike: the Stasi appointed informers among athlets to make sure the policy was inforced (and supposedly Heike Dreschler, track & field legend). Not that they knew exactly what they were given...
When the DDR collapsed, the program stopped obviously. Some of the coaches flew to China to break some more WRs via very fishy athletes. Others stayed in the new complete Germany and continued on their coaching duties (some only confessed recently on what was going on in the DDR, a fact that has caused quite an outcry from former East Germans athlets).
Ullrich, Klöden and Zabel are the most famous riders to have been born in the DDR. The question that pushed me to create this thread was: what do we know of their "careers" before the fall of the Wall? Could they have been victims of the DDR doping policy?
The little I know is: Zabel is born in 1970, Ullrich in 73, Klöden in 75. Klodi was still pretty young by the end of the DDR (14-15 years old more or less).
Ullrich, since he was 13, was riding for the SV Dynamo Berlin -an omnisport entity under the direction of the Stasi, like the CSKA Moscow is the official club of the army-. Trials at the end of nineties highlighted the central role of the club in the doping policy.
Zabel I do not know where he was riding: in accordance to soviet policies, athlets were prohibited from being pros.
So... does anyone know more?
I do not think I have to tell you that East Germany had a very effective state sponsored doping program -which could be mentioned in the "Are PED safe thread"-. So effective that some of the records set in the 80's are plain and simply out of reach (only with the "suit frenzy" that broke 50 WRs or so have they been erased in women's natation...). But hey, they didn't test positive a lot.
The program was very large: young prospects were put on the medecine very early. It was also mandatory for athlets and coaches alike: the Stasi appointed informers among athlets to make sure the policy was inforced (and supposedly Heike Dreschler, track & field legend). Not that they knew exactly what they were given...
When the DDR collapsed, the program stopped obviously. Some of the coaches flew to China to break some more WRs via very fishy athletes. Others stayed in the new complete Germany and continued on their coaching duties (some only confessed recently on what was going on in the DDR, a fact that has caused quite an outcry from former East Germans athlets).
Ullrich, Klöden and Zabel are the most famous riders to have been born in the DDR. The question that pushed me to create this thread was: what do we know of their "careers" before the fall of the Wall? Could they have been victims of the DDR doping policy?
The little I know is: Zabel is born in 1970, Ullrich in 73, Klöden in 75. Klodi was still pretty young by the end of the DDR (14-15 years old more or less).
Ullrich, since he was 13, was riding for the SV Dynamo Berlin -an omnisport entity under the direction of the Stasi, like the CSKA Moscow is the official club of the army-. Trials at the end of nineties highlighted the central role of the club in the doping policy.
Zabel I do not know where he was riding: in accordance to soviet policies, athlets were prohibited from being pros.
So... does anyone know more?