502 JUTTA BRAUN
between the systems. Initially, it had come as much of a surprise when
the international socialist camp actually decided to take part in the Olym-
pic movement after World War II. Prior to this point, the Soviet leadership
had disdained the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as a clique of
reactionary aristocrats, military men, and industrialists. It had set up its
own competition, the Spartakiad, and celebrated socialist physical cul-
ture with impressive parades. In his last years in power, however, Stalin
recognized the enormous draw of the spectacle of sports under the Olym-
pic rings.^5 Thus, from the very beginning, the Soviet Union entered the
Olympic arena with the intent to wage a proxy war in sports against “im-
perialism,” and it very much intended to win—as did the GDR. Moreover,
the socialist states gleaned an advantage from the amateur status of the
Olympics, which formally excluded professional athletes from competing
and could be used to political ends. For all intents and purposes, the elite
East German athletes were professionals because they did devote most
of their time and energy to competitive sport and their real jobs existed
only on paper. Offi cially, however, these athletes competed as “amateurs”
and were therefore able to perform exceptionally well. They were often
jokingly referred to as “state amateurs” in the West.^6
The competition with the “other Germany” created an additional in-
centive to strive for victory on both sides of the Wall, albeit with a very
diff erent level of political relevance. Usually, the GDR was the rather no-
torious loser in the battle between the systems with the FRG, and it actu-
ally had to keep its own people from trying to leave the country. But the
realm of sports presented an exceptional opportunity to boost the coun-
try’s image, not only in terms of the merits of the socialist system, but
also on its own accord as an independent state: the relatively small GDR,
with a population of just seventeen million, was able to win 755 Olympic
medals, 768 world championships, and 747 European championships in
forty years of sport history. After the Olympic Games of 1972 in Munich,
the Cold War in sports between East and West Germany was defi nitely
still alive and well.^7 The ramifi cations and the intensity of the rivalry had
in fact only increased over time. The GDR achieved a striking victory just
a bit later at the Olympic Games of 1976 in Montreal, when it not only
won more medals than West Germany, but also more than the USA. The
international sport scene was deeply impressed, particularly by the per-
formance of the East German swim team. Despite the running jokes and
rumors about the noticeably male appearance of the East German female
athletes, East Germany was not stigmatized as a pariah because phar-
maceutical assistance was still considered to be an appropriate means
of improving performance in international sports at the time. The same
held true for West Germany. In fact, in a now often cited and controversial