East German Pain Lingers

Despite estimates that as many as 10,000 East German athletes were given steroids and other dangerous drugs by the coaches and officials who constructed the country’s powerful Olympic teams of the 1970s and ‘80s, only 179 filed claims for medical bill assistance by Monday’s deadline.

“It’s an outrage and it’s despicable how the Germans have hurled insult on top of insult at these athletes,” said Steven Ungerleider, the research psychologist who wrote “Faust’s Gold: Inside the East German Doping Machine.”

In addition to a $10,000 ceiling on claims, the panel that instituted the victims’ compensation fund intimidated many of the former East German athletes by linking conditions to the claims. One, the athlete had to produce verification by an independent doctor that the drug use caused the respective condition. Two, the conditions were subject to disclosure in the media.

One of the affected athletes who filed a claim was Andreas Krieger, who won a women’s shot put gold medal in the 1986 European track and field championships while known as Heidi. Krieger ingested so many hormones while training she eventually grew a beard and body hair and fought overwhelming depression, Ungerleider said. Ultimately, Heidi had a sex change and became Andreas.

“I thought I won [the gold medal] because of all the hard work I put in,” Krieger told Associated Press. “Now, it doesn’t mean much of anything.”

Said Ungerleider: “Many of the women had severe OB/GYN problems, and some of them are in high-powered positions. They did not want these conditions aired out, especially for a mere $10,000.”

Complicating the matter, medical records were lost in East Germany’s 1989 collapse and doctors are having difficulty proving their findings. A case in point is Gerd Bonk, an Olympic silver medalist in weightlifting, who said he has diabetes, a failing liver and numb feet because of drug use.

While prosecutors and athlete advocates, such as former East German Olympic swimmer Karen Konig, continue seeking greater financial satisfaction than the $2.18 million compensation fund, politics may prevent future settlements.

“There’s the sentiment, ‘Let’s fast-forward this thing. This is West Germany, East Germany is gone,’ ” Ungerleider said. “And there’s embarrassment.”

The East German government’s “State Plan 14.25,” developed in 1974, led to the massive doping of unknowing thousands of promising athletes in training centers. East German scientists created oral turinabol, a pale blue pill that was a strong, hard-to-detect steroid. As athletes efficiently built lean muscle mass, improved endurance and accelerated workout recovery time, they also ingested androstenedione, testosterone and experimental drugs that occasionally were immediately damaging.

After winning 25 medals in the 1968 Summer Games, East Germany won 66 in 1972, 90 in 1976, 126 in 1980 (during the U.S.-led boycott) and 102 in 1988.

Ungerleider said 44 German prosecutors worked to secure 412 indictments and jail time for some officials involved in the policy.

“Many of the athletes are human ticking time bombs,” said Birgit Boese, who runs a Berlin center for the athletes, Doping-Victim-Help.

Hans Brautigam, the chief judge of Germany’s superior court who ruled the doping was punishable, told Ungerleider his decision was based on the thinking, “These were crimes against humanity and minors. There was no parental consent here. They were simply injecting children with steroids.”

Associated Press contributed to this report.