After the East German women swept the Olympics in the late ’70s and ’80s, they became the punch line to an international joke for looking like men.
Those jokes were closer to the truth than even those young women could have ever guessed.
In “Doping for Gold” (Wednesday night at 8 on WGBH, Ch. 2), PBS’ “Secrets of the Dead” takes a break from excavating prehistoric civilizations to scrutinize a modern scandal: East Germany’s state-run program that fed male hormones to thousands of young women without their knowledge.
One physician sums up the program: “It was German. It was orderly. It was bureaucratic. It was written up.”
Communist leaders believed that doping was key to winning international competitions and demonstrating communism’s superiority. Those athletes who dared to ask about the regimen were told they were being given “supporting drugs” to help them train. Those who remained skeptical were often drummed out of the athletic programs and denied the lavish perks that went with them.
The diet of hormones, administered orally and through injection, allowed the women to train harder with less need for recuperation and allowed them to claim impressive victories in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics.
The women also developed male features and facial hair.
“I didn’t start to look like a man overnight. It happened gradually,” says ex-swimmer Katharina Bullin.
“Doping” also shines a spotlight on the struggles of two women who played cleanly and lost to the doped athletes. U.S. swimmer Wendy Boglioli visits East Germany looking for some sort of closure or perhaps an apology. She doesn’t get it.
Tessa Sanderson, a British javelin thrower, is more at peace. She notes that as long as commerce is tied to athletics, competitors will feel pressure to cheat. As “Doping” notes, however, East Germany is infamous because the entire government mobilized to support cheating.
In the years since the program ended, the fallout for the athletes has been devastating: heart and liver disease, eating disorders, cancer, miscarriages and depression.
One athlete decided to end years of psychological torment and underwent gender reassignment surgery. Heidi Krieger, a shot putter, now lives as Andreas and two years ago married another female athlete.
Those women who speak out about what they continue to suffer are ostracized by their communities.
“Doping for Gold” reminds viewers that the quest for victory at all costs often comes at a price few can afford.
Wednesday night at 8 on WGBH (Ch. 2).
