German politicians call for publication of report into cold war doping

[oldironside]

German opposition politicians have called for a report detailing the extent to which government-backed doping of West German athletes took place from the 1970s, and possibly before, to be made public after it was revealed it was being held back over privacy concerns.

The report also mentions football players, who were doped before the 1970s, including three who played during the 1966 World Cup final where England beat West Germany in Wembley 4-2. Researchers said a letter had been discovered in which Fifa officials said traces of the banned stimulant ephedrine had been found.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2013/aug/04/german-politicians-report-doping-athletes

This is possibly the biggest scandal in sporting history and it taints everything the West German national team won. No surprise they don't want to publish it.

[Ron Obvious]

1. Well, it wasn't just the Germans in those days I'm sure

After I mentioned the Dutch side FC Twente as my first club side earlier in this forum, I looked up the old team from back then and found out that at least 3 of them had died of heart attacks while only in their forties. That's a bit out of the odds for extremely fit men who'd stopped playing not that long ago, I suspect.

There have been hints and stories from players in that generation for a while. Hints about "vitamin pills" and the like. The players might not even have known.

[oldironside]

2. "Everybody was doing it" is no excuse.

Cheating is cheating, and if you enable the cheats by saying " Well, okay but you know you really shouldn't." you remve any real reason for playing sport and you give the green light to the next generation of cheats.

At the risk of sounding Corinthian, sport should be about developing the worthwhile human attributes - confidence, skill, fitness, character. It is not about who has the best chemist and it is not about winning at all costs.

Lance Armstrong lst his titles because he cheated, and several tours now have no official winner because they can't be sure anyone was clean. Olympic records of the 70s and 80s are now totally wothless because of institutionalised cheating. If these allegations are proven FIFA should (but probably won't) take action.

[Ron Obvious]

3. I'm not making excuses

I totally agree with everything you said, and I'm a Corinthian at heart as well.

I'm encouraged that this year's Tour seems to have been fairly clean. The difference was noticeable: Froome's assistants who rode their bollocks off to get him in the yellow were thoroughly knackered the next day and dropped. Many riders faded as the Tour progressed in a way you didn't see in previous years.

FIFA won't do anything unless there's money in it.

[oldironside]

4. Apologies if it came over like that.

I wasn't accusing you of anything but I was typing on my phone during a cigarette break. Difficult to get the right tone.

Agree with you. FIFA is corrupt enough to make the IOC look like a model of honesty.

However, those three stars on the German shirt should now each come with an asterisk.

[Aquavit]

5. I sure hope

That the likes of Beckenbauer, Müller, and Hoeneß weren't involved in this