PBS series Secrets of the Dead will have an epsiode about female German athletes who are now 'paying the price'. The little blurb I just saw showed swimmer. Thought some of you might be interested. It will air on Wednesday evening, in my area.
Lainey
Parents
Former Member
I...Hard to believe the women didn't know they were taking something controversial at the time...
Steroids were very new at the time. If your daughter came home from some sort of long-term training program with a deep voice, dramatically bigger muscles, and some facial hair, you'd immediately guess she was on anabolic steroids, because nowadays everyone knows about them and what the signs are. Back then, most people had never heard of them and only knew that something was a bit off, but not why.
Because these drugs were administered by doctors, who were trusted and revered a lot more years ago than they are now, people probably assumed it was okay. Medical supervision would have equaled legal and safe in their minds. The fact that it was openly mandated by the government would have also made it seem legitimate. As one person pointed out, steroid use in the west has mostly been a clandestine thing. Not so in East Germany.
Of course, in the program one former athlete mentioned a team-mate who did start asking questions and was promptly thrown off the team. Stazi informers were everywhere (most coaches were Stazi) so athletes were very careful of what they said.
I got the impression that these doctors were experimenting on these young athletes and didn't really know what the long term effects were going to be. Some of the body changes on young women seemed to take them by surprise.
I...Hard to believe the women didn't know they were taking something controversial at the time...
Steroids were very new at the time. If your daughter came home from some sort of long-term training program with a deep voice, dramatically bigger muscles, and some facial hair, you'd immediately guess she was on anabolic steroids, because nowadays everyone knows about them and what the signs are. Back then, most people had never heard of them and only knew that something was a bit off, but not why.
Because these drugs were administered by doctors, who were trusted and revered a lot more years ago than they are now, people probably assumed it was okay. Medical supervision would have equaled legal and safe in their minds. The fact that it was openly mandated by the government would have also made it seem legitimate. As one person pointed out, steroid use in the west has mostly been a clandestine thing. Not so in East Germany.
Of course, in the program one former athlete mentioned a team-mate who did start asking questions and was promptly thrown off the team. Stazi informers were everywhere (most coaches were Stazi) so athletes were very careful of what they said.
I got the impression that these doctors were experimenting on these young athletes and didn't really know what the long term effects were going to be. Some of the body changes on young women seemed to take them by surprise.
