Do the Right Thing by Phillip Whitten

(Editor’s Note: This article expands upon the article of the same name in the April 2013 issue of World Magazine.)

It took awhile, but last January, when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong of the bronze medal he’d been awarded at the 2000 Games in Sydney, it sent a powerful message to would-be dopers: “We’re coming after you!”

It also set a heartening precedent.

The IOC action came after Armstrong wisely decided not to challenge the staggeringly well-documented indictment against him drawn up by USADA, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, finally preferring to come clean in a televised interview with America’s confessor-in-chief, Oprah Winfrey.

Though Armstrong captured all the headlines, he is by no means the only cyclist under investigation by the usually staid IOC. Olympic medalists and Armstrong teammates Tyler Hamilton and Levi Leipheimer—both of whom have admitted using performance-enhancing drugs—will almost certainly forfeit their Olympic medals. Then there’s sprinter Marion Jones, who not only was stripped of her five medals from Sydney but who also spent six months in prison for lying about her doping while under oath.

After years of excuse-making punctuated with inaction, the IOC, a handful of national anti-doping agencies and some of the international sports federations are finally taking a stand in favor of clean sport. We welcome this change in attitude. Now it is time—in fact, it is long past time—to take a stand on the worst, most far-reaching and longest-lasting scandal in the history of the , one that cheated more than a hundred young athletes of the glory for which they worked so hard and long: East Germany’s state-mandated doping of virtually all of its world-class athletes.

Now, some will say, “Yes, it was a shame, but too much time has passed, and it would be difficult.”

We say: “It is never too late to do the right thing, to acknowledge our errors and to honor those who were victimized by the GDR’s perfidy.” As for difficulty, we say: just because a right action might be difficult to do, that is no argument against doing it. But, in fact, it would not be all that difficult. In the follow-up to this article, I will outline a reasonable, doable process that would bring the East German scandal to a satisfactory and just ending. It is not the only procedure that would achieve that end, but it will demonstrate conclusively that such a process can be executed successfully.

Without question, swimming was impacted by doping more than nearly all other Olympic sports. This was especially true from the early 1970s to the late ’80s when East Germany’s doped Wundermädchen” enjoyed near total domination of the sport. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, many of the architects of East German swimming success migrated to . Shortly thereafter, the Chinese women emerged as the new world swimming power, reigning over the 50-meter jungle throughout the 1990s. During that time, FINA did virtually nothing to keep our sport clean.

Nor were swimming’s national governing bodies—including USA Swimming—much better. Only a handful of coaches, notably John Leonard and Forbes Carlile; two coaching associations, ASCA and WSCA; half a dozen journalists writing mainly in Swimming World Magazine; and a small number of fearless swimmers, especially , dared speak out. Their message was far from welcome. Babashoff was christened, “Surly Shirley,” by the media and called a sore loser, while Leonard, Carlile and this writer were summarily dismissed by FINA as “three well-known malcontents.”

But that appears to be changing. Under the leadership of IOC president Jacques Rogge, the Lords of the Rings appear to be taking seriously the quaint notion of a level playing field. They actually appear to be willing to do the right thing.

Don’t get me wrong. They have not shown any inclination to rewrite the history books. But in analyzing the cases where they have taken a stand against doping, one or more of the following five factors appears to have been decisive:

1. The athlete has confessed publicly; 2. WADA (or a national anti-doping agency) has declared the athlete guilty; 3. A legally constituted court has found the athlete guilty; 4. The coaches or administrators of a doping program have confessed; or 5. Scientific records have been discovered detailing the athlete’s doping program.

In the case of East Germany, all five factors have combined to identify those East German swimmers who were using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

The number of swimmers who have been cheated out of the medals they rightfully earned is nothing short of staggering. Following, you will find a summary of only the women swimmers who were victims of the East German doping machine at the 1976 Games in Montreal; the 1980 Games in Moscow; and the ’88 Games, held in , South Korea. (The 1984 Games have been omitted because East Germany joined the Eastern bloc’s boycott in retaliation for the U.S.-led boycott of 1980.) We have omitted the men for three reasons: (1) steroids and other PEDs have a much less dramatic effect on men; (2) the GDR men were far less successful than their female counterparts; and (3) some East German men—such as world record holder, Roland Mathes—apparently were able to opt out if their coaches insisted and if they achieved international success without drugs.

Montreal 1976

The East German women were virtually untouchable in Montreal, dominating the rest of the world in a way that had never been seen before.

The ladies of the German Democratic Republic took the gold in 11 of the 13 women’s events contested, going 1-2 in five events. Only the 200 meter breaststroke, won by the Soviet Union’s Marina Koshevaia and the 400 meter free relay, taken by a fired-up American team, escaped the giant East German scythe.

So dominant were the Wundermädchen that swimmers from only four other countries—the USA, USSR, Canada and the Netherlands (see Table 1)—managed to win even a single medal of any color. When Babashoff spoke out, pointing to the East Germans’ masculine musculature, excessive body hair, deep voices and heavy acne—all indications of steroid use—she was lambasted by the press while the GDR head coach mocked her, sarcastically saying, “We have come here to swim, not to sing.”

Babashoff, whose five-gold-medal performance—the greatest ever by a female swimmer—was nullified by East German cheating, was the major victim, but she was far from the only one. Canada, which suffered the ignominy of becoming the first Olympic host country to fail to win a single gold medal in swimming, ended up with but seven medals, all but one of them bronze. As a result, Canadian swimming became an international backwater until 1984.

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Table 1. 1976 Olympics, Montreal: Medal Table Awarded by Country

Gold Silver Bronze GDR 11 06 01 USA 01 04 02 URS 01 02 02 CAN 00 01 06 HOL 00 00 02 ______

If you peruse the official results from Montreal, you’ll find that Canada’s was credited with two bronze medals. Take away the dopers and, behold!—Nancy is revealed as one of the Games’ superstars, with gold medals in both backstroke events and heading a 1-2-3 Canadian sweep of the 100-meter dorsal race. And she was just one of 10 Canadians who were cheated of 15 medals. In all, in 1976 alone, some 32 women were cheated out of 48 Olympic medals (see Table 3).

Take Holland’s , for example. Most readers likely would not even know her name. Check the results from ’76, and you’ll find she is credited with winning two bronze medals and a fourth- place finish. But if you eliminate the steroid-assisted efforts of the East Germans, Brigitha emerges as the gold medalist in the 100 free, silver medalist in the 200 and a bronze medalist on the Dutch 4 x 100 free relay. As the fastest 100-meter sprinter in the world, Brigitha would have been universally recognized as the first black Olympic gold medalist in swimming.

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Table 2. 1976 Olympics, Montreal – Medal Table with Doped Athletes Removed

Gold Silver Bronze USA 07 02 03 URS 04 02 01 CAN 03 06 03 NED 01 01 02 NZL 00 00 01 AUS 00 00 01 GER 00 00 01

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Table 3. Who Was Cheated of Olympic Medals in 1976?

GOLD

1. Shirley Babashoff, USA, G-200, 400, 800 free, 400 MR 2. , USA, G-100 fly (bronze) 3. Enith Brigitha, NED, G-100 free, S-200 free, B-400 FR 4. Nancy Garapick, CAN, G-100 back, 200 back 5. , CAN, G-400 IM, B-200 fly 6. , USA, G-400 MR 7. , USA, S-100 free (G from 400 FR) 8. Lubov Russanova, URS, G-100 breast (2nd) 9. Laura Siering, USA, G-400 MR 10. Karen Thornton, USA, G-200 fly (4th) 11. , USA, G-400 MR, S-100 fly

SILVER and BRONZE (1976)

1. , CAN, S-400 FR 2. Gabriele Askamp, GER, B-100 breast 3. , USA, B-200 back 4. Barbara Clark, CAN, S-400 FR 5. Robin Corsiglia, CAN, S-400 MR 6. , NED, B-400 FR 7. , CAN, S-100 back, 400 MR 8. , CAN, S-400 MR, 400 FR 9. Marina Koshevaia (3rd), URS, S-100 breast 10. , NED, B-200 free, 400 FR 11. Rebecca Perout, NZL, B-400 free 12. , CAN, B-100 fly, S-200 fly 13. Ineke Ran, NED, B-400 FR 14. Tamara Shelofastova, URS, B-400 MR 15. , CAN, S-400 MR 16. Shannon Smith, CAN, S-400 FR 17. Nadezda Stavko, URS, S-200 back, B-400 MR 18. Larisa Tsareva, URS, B-400 MR 19. , USA, S-800 free 20. Donnalee Wennerstrom, USA, B-400 IM 21. Marina Yurchania, URS B-400 MR

1976 Medalists Cheated (by country): USA: 10 medalists 17 medals CAN: 10 medalists 15 medals URS: 06 medalists 07 medals NED: 04 medalists 07 medals GER: 01 medalists 01 medals NZL: 01 medalists 01 medals Total 32 medalists 48 medals

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Moscow 1980

The 1980 Games were marred by President Jimmy Carter’s ill-considered boycott—an action that almost put an end to the Olympic movement. The pointless protest, advertised as a wedge to force Soviet troops out of Afghanistan, succeeded only in punishing American athletes and athletes from most of America’s allies. Adding to the irony: after the Russians were booted out of Afghanistan by American- aided Taliban fighters, the USA promptly duplicated Russia’s folly, jumping into the quicksand that is Afghanistan and quickly getting bogged down in what has become the longest war in U.S. history before abandoning whatever political objectives it may once have entertained.

In the absence of the USA and most of the West, the GDR was even more dominant in Moscow than it had been four years earlier. The doped Germans duplicated their golden Montreal performance, winning 11 of the 13 events. In addition, they took eight silver medals and seven bronze. Of the 11 individual events, East Germans engineered eight 1-2 finishes, of which seven were complete broom jobs. In the words of young Michael Jackson, it was, “Easy as 1-2-3.”

Two swimmers prevented the GDR from flying home with all 13 gold medals: the home team’s Lina Kachushite, who took the 200 breast, and Aussie Michelle Ford, who, defying her country’s boycott, won the 800 free by more than three seconds. Ford also took bronze in the 200 fly.

Table 4 illustrates the number of medals won in the official results from Moscow. These Games served as a high-water mark for the GDR’s infamy.

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Table 4. 1980 Olympics, Moscow: Medal Table Awarded by Country

Gold Silver Bronze GDR 11 08 07 URS 01 02 02 AUS 01 00 01 GBR 00 02 00 CHN 00 00 02

The extent of the GDR’s thievery in Moscow is truly mind-blowing, with 33 swimmers deprived of 53 medals they rightfully won. The GDR took home an astonishing 26 out of 35 possible medals. Only two gold, three silver and four bronze medals escaped their greedy grasp. Eliminate the chemically- enhanced GDR, and the actual medal table looks like Table 5.

Australia’s Michelle Ford should have been credited with the three gold medals she actually earned, not the single gold and bronze the official results show. Russia’s Olga Klevakina would have been a national hero with victories in the 100 and 200 meter freestyle rather than the fourth-place finishes with which she was credited. Likewise, Romania’s Carmen Bunaciu should have returned home with two gold medals commemorating her twin wins in the backstroke. Instead, she left Moscow empty-handed, with two fourth-place finishes next to her name. Britain’s Ann Osgerby should have taken two golds and a bronze to Buckingham Palace to show the Queen rather than the gold and two bronze medals she received.

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Table 5. 1980 Olympics, Moscow – Medal Table with Doped Athletes Removed

Gold Silver Bronze URS 04 04 04 AUS 03 01 00 GBR 03 00 04 ROM 02 00 00 SWE 01 00 02 HOL 00 03 01 BEL 00 02 01 POL 00 02 00 DEN 00 01 00 BUL 00 00 01

Table 6 provides a complete listing of the swimmers whose medals were stolen by the East German doping juggernaut in 1980.

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Table 6. Who Was Cheated of Olympic Medals in 1980?

GOLD (1980)

1. Carmen Bunaciu, ROM, G-100 back, 200 back 2. , GBR, G-400 MR, B-400 FR, B-200 free 3. Sharon Davies, G-400 IM, B-400 free

4. Agnetta Eriksson, SWE, G-400 FR 5. Michelle Ford, AUS, G-400 free, 200 fly (G-800 free) 6. Tina Gustafsson, SWE, G-400 FR, B-400 MR 7. Helen Jameson, GBR, G-400 MR 8. Margaret Kelly, GBR, G-400 MR , B-100 breast 9. Olga Klevakina, URS, G-100 free, 200 free 10. Carina Ljungdahl, SWE, G-400 FR 11. Agnetta Martensson, SWE, G-400 FR, B-100 fly, B-400 MR 12. Ann Osgerby, GBR, G-100 fly, G-400 MR, B-200 fly 13. Elvira Vasilikova, URS, G-100 breast, S-400 MR

SILVER and BRONZE (1980)

1. Irina Aksyonova, URS, S-400 free, S-800 free 2. Dorota Brzozowska, POL, S-200 fly 3. , AUS , S-100 fly 4. Agnieszka Czopek, S-400 IM 5. Stoyanka Dangalakova, BUL, B-400 IM 6. Sharon Davies, GBR, G-400 IM, B-400 FR 7. Larisa Gorchakova, URS, B-100 back 8. Alia Grishchenkova, URS, S-400 MR 9. Eva-Marie Hakansson, SWE, B-400 MR 10 Yelena Kruglova, URS, S-400 MR 11. Kaye Lovatt, GBR, B-400 FR 12. Annelies Maas, NED, B 200 free, S-400 FR, B-400 free 13. Suzanne Nielsseen, DEN, S-100 breast 14. Natalia Strunnikova, URS, B-100 free, S-400 MR 15. Annika Uvehal, SWE, B-400 MR 16. Connie van Bentum, NED, S-100 free, 400 FR 17. Yolanda van der Straaten, S-200 back 18. Wilma van Velson, NED, S-400 FR 19. Carine Verbauen, BEL, S-100 back, B-200 back 20. Jacqueline Wilmott, GBR, B-400 FR

1980 Medalists cheated (by country):

GBR 08 medalists 15 medals URS 07 medalists 11 medals SWE 06 medalists 09 medals NED 04 medalists 07 medals AUS 02 medalists 03 medals POL 02 medalists 02 medals ROM 01 medalists 02 medals BEL 01 medalists 02 medals BUL 01 medalists 01 medals DEN 01 medalists 01 medals Total 33 medalists 53 medals

Seoul 1988 In retaliation for the U.S.-led boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow, the Soviet-bloc nations— with the notable exception of Romania—boycotted the 1984 Games, thereby demonstrating that in politics, ignorance and pettiness transcend ideology. Once again, it was the athletes who were punished by their feckless “leaders.” So it was not until 1988 that the whole world gathered in Seoul, South Korea—12 years after the last such gathering—for the Games of the XXIV Modern Olympiad.

In swimming, the USA and the GDR were slavering at the bit, anxious to test each other’s mettle. But the American team was racked by controversy, particularly over the issue of how much access individual coaches should have to “their” swimmers. In contrast, the chemically-fortified East German women came ready to rumble. And rumble they did. ______

Table 7: 1988 Olympics, Seoul: Medals Table

Gold Silver Bronze GDR 10 05 06 USA 03 01 03 BUL 01 01 01 HUN 01 01 00 CHN 00 03 01 URS 00 01 00 ROM 00 01 01 CRC 00 01 00 HOL 00 01 00 FRG 00 00 01 AUS 00 00 01 CAN 00 00 01 FRA 00 00 01 ______

The IOC added two events—the 50 free and 200 IM—to the women’s swimming program in 1988, bringing the total to 15. But that just meant more medals for Our Ladies of the Ragin’ ’Roids. Once again, the GDR dominated with 10 golds. The USA could manage only three—all of them won in an incredible triple by the incomparable . America’s sweetheart set a fantastic world record in the 400 free (4:03.85), then notched Olympic marks in the 800 free and 400 IM. Aside from the Big Two, only Hungary and Bulgaria—with one apiece—managed to win Olympic gold in Seoul.

East Germany—which backed up its double-digit gold medal heist with five silver and six bronze medals—actually had its most successful Olympics ever when you consider the IOC reduced the number of swimmers any country could enter to two per individual event. That means the Wundermädchen took 51.4% of the possible medals they could win in Montreal (18 of 35) ; 74.3% in Moscow (26 of 35); and fully 75% of the medals up for grabs in Seoul (21 of 28). The medals table looks very different, indeed, when you disqualify those swimmers who were chemically aided (see Table 8).

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Table 8. 1988 Olympics, Seoul – Medal Table with Doped Athletes Removed

Gold Silver Bronze USA 05 06 04 CHN 04 00 01 HUN 02 00 00 BUL 01 02 01 RUS 01 00 02 CRC 01 00 01 NED 01 00 00 ROM 00 03 00 FRA 00 02 00 AUS 00 01 05 CAN 00 01 01 ______

Once again, East German cheating produced numerous victims. Forty-two swimmers were deprived of 53 medals. Table 9 contains a list of the cheated swimmers in what is truly a roll call of shattered dreams.

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Table 9. Who Was Cheated of Olympic Medals in 1988?

GOLD (1988)

1. , USA, G-400 MR, S-200 back, B-100 back 2. Karen Brinesse, NED, G-400 FR 3. Elena Dendeberova, URS, G-200 IM , B-400 IM 4. Kristina Egerszegi, HUN, G-100 back (she won the gold in the 200 back) 5. Hong Qian, CHN, G-100 fly 6. Janelle Jorgensen, G-400 MR , B-100 fly 7. Tracey McFarlane, USA, G-400 MR 8. Mary T. Meagher, USA, G-200 fly 9. Marianne Muis, NED, G-400 FR, S-200 IM 10. Mildred Muis, NED, G-400 FR 11. , CRC, G-200 free, B-100 free 12. Connie van Bentum, NED, 400 FR 13. , USA, S-400 FR, S-200 free 14. Xiaomin Huang, CHN, G-200 breast 15. Yang Wenyi, CHN, G-50 free, B-400 FR 16. , CHN, G-100 free, B-400 FR SILVER and BRONZE (1988) 1. Fiona Alessandri, AUS, B-400 MR 2 , USA, S-400 free 3. Jodie Clatworthy, AUS, B-200 IM 4. Tania Dangalakova, BUL, B-200 breast 5. Janelle Elford, AUS, B-400 free, S-800 free 6. Leigh-Ann Fetter, USA, B-50 free 7. Antonetta Frankeva, BUL, S-200 breast 8. , CAN, S-400 MR, B-100 breast 9. Lara Hooiveld, AUS, B-400 MR 10. , CAN, S-400 MR 11. , USA, S-400 FR 12. , AUS, B-200 back, 400 MR 13. , ROM, S-200 IM 14. Julia McDonald, AUS, B-800 free 15. , USA, S-100 back 16. , CAN, S-400 MR 17. , CAN, S-400 MR 18. Catherine Plewinski, FRA, S-100 free, 100 fly 19. Stela Pura, ROM, S-200 fly 20. , USA, B-200 fly 21. , USA, S-50 free 22. , USA, S-400 FR 23. Natalia Trefilova, URS, B-200 free 24. Diane van der Plaats, NED, G-400 FR 23. 25. , USA. S-400 FR 26. Xia Ujie, CHN, B-400 FR 27. Yaping Luo, CHN, B-400 FR

Medalists cheated (by country):

USA 13 medalists 17 medals AUS 06 medalists 08 medals CHN 06 medalists 08 medals NED 05 medalists 06 medals CAN 04 medalists 06 medals URS 02 medalists 03 medals BUL 02 medalists 02 medals ROM 02 medalists 02 medals CRC 01 medalists 02 medals FRA 01 medalists 02 medals Total 42 medalists 56 medals ______

In all, 107 female swimmers were robbed of the 157 Olympic medals they rightfully had won. But they were by no means the only victims. Indeed, it can be argued that the East German athletes were also victims. After all, they were taken from their families at a young age and placed in the “care” of an all-powerful, authoritarian State, represented by physicians, scientific researchers and coaches, who assured them and their parents that there would be no danger. They lied.

Aside from the shame many of these athletes felt as the East German doping machine has come unraveled in case after case in German courts, they have also suffered from numerous medical disorders. So, too, have their children, who have serious birth defects far in excess of normal rates. It is incumbent upon us to publicly recognize that the East German athletes were victims, too.

So, we say again, it is time to do the right thing. The IOC and FINA would only be applauded for doing so. For those who would argue that too many years have passed, we humbly disagree. It is never too late to do the right thing. Justice postponed is still justice.