The Health Risks of Doping during the Cold War: A Comparative Analysis of the Two Sides of the Iron Curtain

Citation

Hunt TM, Dimeo P, Hemme F & Mueller A (2014) The Health Risks of Doping during the Cold War: A Comparative Analysis of the Two Sides of the Iron Curtain. International Journal of the History of Sport, 31 (7), pp. 2230-2244. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2014.922959

Abstract
This article compares East Germany's Cold War-era approach to doping to that of the USA's in terms of their respective impacts on medical risk. Although deserving of criticism on many levels, the GDR doping programme featured a number of safeguards designed to minimise medical dangers. Unlike their East German counterparts, American governmental units were not directly involved in the administration of performance-enhancing substances. The US approach to doping was not ideal in terms of medical risk, however. As a result of the country's regulatory approach to doping, the country's athletes frequently turned to black market sources for doping agents. It was also relatively common for American athletes to use performance-enhancing drugs without the benefit of medical supervision. The US approach to doping was in these ways inferior to that of East Germany's on the subject of medical risk.

Keywords
sport and Cold War; sport and medical history; sport and doping; sport and drugs; sport and comparative history

Journal
International Journal of the History of Sport: Volume 31, Issue 7

People

Dr Paul Dimeo

Associate Professor, Sport