East Germany Admits That 14 Athletes Tested Positive for Drug Use

East Germany, thrusting its new policy of openness into the sports arena, admitted today for the first time that some of its athletes had been exposed in dope tests as drug-takers.

Reporting on an unprecedented visit to East Germany’s Kreischa doping laboratory near Dresden, newspapers said 14 positive results were returned by unnamed East German athletes last year in testing at domestic events or in spot checks during training.

The report contrasted with outraged denials five months ago, when a defector alleged that top stars were routinely using drugs to enhance their performance.

There was no implication today of widespread drug use, but it was the first time East Germany had publicly conceded that any of its athletes had been caught using drugs.

The admission came as East Germany’s media opened up as never before to tackle previously taboo subjects.

Junge Welt, the youth daily, said the East German sports federation will reverse its policy next year and name offenders as part of a drive to promote drug-free sport.

Kreischa, for years off limits even to East German reporters, is one of 19 labs around the world approved by the International Olympic Committee, although it tends to concentrate on testing its own nationals.

Figures in Junge Welt showed that Kreischa conducted 4,463 tests last year, one-tenth of the world total, and that there were 19 positive results, 14 of them East Germans.

It gave no figures for previous years. Kreischa has been operating for the IOC since 1980 and has 15 employees.

Top sports journalist Volker Kluge, who has hinted previously at doping cases but never in the East German media, said officials had previously preferred to punish offenders quietly rather than disgrace them publicly.

“Admittedly there was nothing to be found in our press about those 14 doping cases in 1988,” he wrote.