Performance Enhancement and Politicisation of High-Performance Sport: The West German ‘air clyster’ Affair of 1976

Abstract

While the politicisation of high-performance sport is perceived to represent one of the driving forces behind doping, we know not much how exactly the cold war in sports has affected sporting misconduct in western societies. Therefore, we propose here to distinguish between ideological and institutional politicisation and explicit and implicit acceptance of dubious practices. We apply our framework to analyse the West German ‘air clyster’ affair of 1976 in order to examine to what extent the politicisation of high-performance sport during the cold war affected the search for innovation in performance enhancement. We find that political pressure for improved competitiveness in West German sport had served to create a semi-autonomous high-performance sport sector in West Germany where blurred lines of accountability allowed questionable practices to prosper. While the public despised the use of questionable methods, sportive nationalism served to eclipse dubious practices. West German sport leaders adopted insofar a permissive attitude towards questionable practices as sporting misconduct was not sanctioned. Thus, our results strongly suggest that sport's politicisation during the cold war facilitated the search for performance-increasing methods in western societies.

Keywords::

• politicisation
• cold war
• doping
• West Germany
• Montreal Olympics

Acknowledgements

Research presented here has been supported by a grant from the Federal Institute for Sport Science (Bundesinstitut für Sportwissenschaft – BISp), grant no. IIA1-081903A/09-12. Invaluable research assistance was provided by Florian Rensing.

Notes

^1.Spitzer, Sicherungsvorgang Sport.

^2.Tomlinson and Young, National Identity.

^3.Andrews and Wagg, “Introduction,” 1.

^4.Waddington and Smith, Introduction to Drugs in Sport, 70–1; Dimeo, History of Drug Use, 53; Hoberman, Mortal Engines, 226.

^5.Berendonk, Doping; Spitzer, Sicherungsvorgang Sport.

^6.Dimeo, History of Drug Use, 75.

^7.Beamish and Ritchie, Fastest, Highest, Strongest, 109.

^8.Hoberman, Mortal Engines, 243.

^9. Stenographic Minutes on the Hearing of Experts in the 6th Session of the Sport Committee, September 28, 1977, Bonn, 5–6. The translation follows partly Hoberman, Mortal Engines, 243.

^10.Hoberman, Mortal Engines, 245.

^11.Ouchi, “Market, Bureaucracies, and Clans.”

^12.Williamson, Mechanisms of Governance.

^13.Pollitt and Bouckaert, Public Management Reform.

^14.Rhodes, Understanding Governance.

^15. Cf. Ouchi, “Market, Bureaucracies, and Clans,” 137.

^16.Mizruchi, “What Do Interlocks Do?”

^17.Henry, “European Models of Sport.”

^18.Bette and Schimank, Dopingfalle.

^19.Hoberman, Testosterone Dreams, 259.

^20. These newspapers are the tabloids Bild and Express, the high-quality newspapers Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Süddeutsche Zeitung, and the regional newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung.

^21.Krüger, Einführung in die Geschichte der Leibeserziehung und des Sports.

^22.Balbier, Kalter Krieg auf der Aschenbahn, 32–3; Reinold and Meier, “Difficult Adaptations.”

^23.Vieweg, Normsetzung und -anwendung deutscher und internationaler Verbände.

^24. Minutes of the 139th Session of the Bundestag in the 5th legislative term, December 1, 7039–7040.

^25. Brief Minutes of the 17th Session of the Sport Committee in the 7th legislative term of the Bundestag, September 25, 1974, Appendix.

^26. Brief Minutes of the 17th Session of the Sport Committee in the 7th legislative term of the Bundestag, September 25, 1974, Appendix.

^27.Schmidt, “Subsidiäre Partnerschaft zwischen Staat und Sport,” 71.

^28.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Kein Geld mehr für Methoden nach Turnvater Jahn,” October 26, 1964, 11.

^29.Gieseler, “Das freie Spiel der Kräfte,” 33 (quoting Willi Daume).

^30. For example, when the then Christian Democrats' chairman, Helmut Kohl, stated in a public rally of the DSB in 1974 that medals said nothing about a country's culture and moral and that clubs and associations should remain free, DSB president Willi Weyer simply ignored the statement and summarised that ‘sport is an important sociopolitical task as the chairmen of the democratic parties have just confirmed’ (Weyer, “Sport als nationale Aufgabe der Lebenshilfe,” 98).

^31.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Durch Spritze um die Goldmedaille gebracht?” July 27, 1976, 11; Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, “Arzt sorgt für ‘Chancengleichheit’,” July 28, 1976.

^32.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “‘Der Sportler wäre ein permanent Kranker’,” December 5, 1976, 20.

^33. On occasion of a public conference on the ‘State of Sport Science and Medicine in the Federal Republic of Germany’ hosted by the German Bundestag on March 17, 1976, influential sport physician Wildor Hollmann of the German Sports University in Cologne reported on secret medical research in the GDR, which East German refugee Alois Mader had concealed: ‘We know details about the people, also about the so strictly shielded, even before Soviet colleagues protected, research institute in Leipzig. […] We know of the devices, we know of the number and the education of employees and we know of the research questions pursued there’. Cf. Public Session within the 37th of the Sport Committee on the ‘State of Sport Science and Medicine in the Federal Republic of Germany’, March 17, 1976, 75–6.

^34.Balbier, Kalter Krieg auf der Aschenbahn.

^35.Schmidl, “DSSV-Verbandstrainer Schramme,” 441. Whereas East German women dominated the swimming competitions in Montreal, the proficiency level at the Olympics was particular high. In the men's competitions, new world records were established in 12 out of 14 finals, and in the women's competitions in 8 of 13 finals.

^36.Express, “Weltrekorde am Fließband,” June 5, 19; F. Mitter, “So gehen wir in Montreal baden,” Express, June 8, 1976, 8; U. Fuhrmann, “DDR-Mädchen schockten die Welt mit Rekord-Flut,” Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, June 8, 1976, 50.

^37. R. Hegen, “Große Examensangst in der Olympia-Schwimmhalle,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 8, 1976, 20.

^38.Süddeutsche Zeitung, “Rückschritt trotz einiger Rekorde,” June 8, 1976, 27.

^39. W. Weingärtner, “Wenige Stars und viele Mitläufer,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 8, 1976, 26.

^40. W. Weingärtner, “Nockes Europarekord lässt hoffen,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 5/6, 1976, 34.

^41. W. Weingärtner, “Olympischer Medaillentest,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 5/6, 1976, 34; W. Weingärtner, “Katerstimmung,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 9, 1976, 38.

^42. H. Neumann, “Die 17 Weltrekorde von Ost-Berlin,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 8, 1976, 20.

^43. O. Stubbe, “Kornelia ist schneller als Tarzan,” Bild, June 3, 1976, 17.

^44.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Trotz aller Anstrengungen nur der ‘Hase’,” July 21, 1976, 11.

^45.Süddeutsche Zeitung, “Uneinholbare Versäumnisse,” July 23, 1976, 29.

^46. W. Weingärtner, “DSV-Asse kuschen vor der Konkurrenz,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 22, 1977, 31.

^47. W. Weingärtner, “Kleiner Lohn großer Trägheit,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, July 29, 33.

^48.Balbier, Kalter Krieg auf der Aschenbahn.

^49.Meier, “A ‘Gathering of Enthusiastic Expense Account Tourists’?”

^50. BMI to DSB, June 5, 1968, Bundesarchiv Koblenz, B 136.

^51.Heinemann, “Sports Policy in Germany.”

^52. The competing organising principles were result of competing traditions within German sport. The worker sport movement preferred inclusive Landessportbünde, while the bourgeois sport movement preferred Fachverbände, cf. Balbier, Kalter Krieg auf der Aschenbahn, 47–9.

^53.Winkler and Karhausen, Verbände im Sport.

^54.Pelshenke, Stiftung Deutsche Sporthilfe.

^55. BMI to DSB, June 5, 1968, Bundesarchiv Koblenz, B 322/27.

^56.Balbier, Kalter Krieg auf der Aschenbahn, 14. The government's planning approach was exemplified by the Minister for the Interior, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, at the first session of the Bundestag's Special Committee for Sport and Olympic Games: ‘A performance increase will only be possible on the base of good training. Thereby it is decisive that the several training measures, under consideration of insights of sport science, succeed during a perennial preparation in a meaningful objective and temporal manner in order to result in a performance increase peaking at the time of the major sport event. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct a perennial planning of the training and competition schedule’. Minutes of the Session of the First Special Committee for Sport and Olympic Games, December 4, 1969, Bundesarchiv Koblenz, B 136/5568, 3/7-8.

^57. Decision Minute of the 69th Session of the DSB Executive Committee, November 20, 1968, Bundesarchiv Koblenz, B 322/124, 3: ‘Within the context of future federal actions the DSB, together with the BMI, will have to develop a concept, which will not create a new organisation but guarantee improved opportunities within already existing institutions of the sport movement, in particular the Federal Committee for the promotion of high-performance sport, and the state, in particular within in schools and universities’.

^58.Bette, Strukturelle Aspekte des Hochleistungssports in der Bundesrepublik, 26; Lempart and Spitz, Probleme des Hochleistungssports, 134–6.

^59. In addition to these organisational changes at the peak level, after 1974 training for top athletes became centralised by creating Olympic Training Centers since local clubs were unable to cope with the requirements of high-performance sport, cf. Bette and Neidhardt, Förderungseinrichtungen im Hochleistungssport, 200.

^60.Winkler and Karhausen, Verbände im Sport, 160–2; DSB, Geschäftsordnung des Bundesausschusses zur Förderung des Leistungssports, 3.

^61. The board of the West German Weightlifting Association concluded in 1971 ‘that it had been difficult to convince the DSB [to grant subsidies], which initially wanted only support athletes and associations with good prospects for top ranks in Munich. By promising more systematic training plans and a tighter leadership funding could be maintained once again’ (Minutes of the Sessions of the Board of the German Weightlifting Association, November 13, 1971, BVDG-Archiv, Ordner Protokoll Bundesvorstand 70er–80er, 2).

^62.Bundesregierung, Vierter Sportbericht der Bundesregierung, 13.

^63.DSB, Deutscher Sportbund 1974–1978, 248.

^64.Meier, Reinold and Rose, “Dopingskandale in der alten Bundesrepublik.”

^65. H. Meyer, Betr. Luftdusche Montreal – Deutscher Schwimm-Verband: Dienstliche Erklärung. -7/me/hdt/-, Hagen, March 30, 1977. Meyer responded to a letter by the DSB general secretary, Karl-Heinz Gieseler, cf. Gieseler to Meyer, March 15, 1977; cf. Knecht, “Aktion ‘Luftklistier’,” 418.

^66.Knecht, “Aktion ‘Luftklistier’,” 418.

^67. Cited in Heydn,“‘Luftduschen’ nutzten nichts,” 140.

^68. DSV, Vertrag, München, June 16, 1976.

^69. DSV to BMI, June 16, 1976.

^70. BMI to DSV, June 21, 1976.

^71. The grant was given to sport physician Keul from Freiburg University for a research project on ‘Regulation and adaptation of circulation and metabolism in particular under influence of hormones’ (cf. Minutes of the Session of the Expert Committee ‘Medicine’, November 25, 1976, BISpArchiv Bonn).

^72. Meyer, Betr. Luftdusche Montreal, 2.

^73. Minutes of the 4th Session of the Sport Committee the 8th legislative term, May 11, 1977.

^74. DSV to BMI, June 16, 1976.

^75.Heydn,“‘Luftduschen’ nutzten nichts,” 140.

^76. Meyer, Betr. Luftdusche Montreal, 3.

^77.Knecht,“Aktion ‘Luftklistier’,” 418.

^78.Heydn,“‘Luftduschen’ nutzten nichts,” 140.

^79.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Erfolg oder nicht mit Luft im Darm?” March 7, 1977, 18.

^80. Former West German swimmer Michael Kraus who admitted to have been talked into trying the ‘air clyster’ claimed that resulting performance increases had been low and had materialised only for the weakest members of the swimming team, cf. C. Eichler, “Michael Kraus – dem Reiz der Belastung erlegen,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, April 25, 1987, 24.

^81.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Ganzkörperrasur oder Haifischhaut, Fischöl, Klistier und feines Sandpapier,” August 20, 2004, 30.

^82. Meyer, Betr. Luftdusche Montreal, 4.

^83.Meier, Reinold and Rose, “Dopingskandale in der alten Bundesrepublik.”

^84.Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, “Medizin muss helfen,” August 18, 1976; H. Gärtner, “‘Spritze war nur Alibi’,” Express, October 27, 1976.

^85. R. Heggen, “Die Schizophrenie mit dem keimfreien Amateur,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, September 8, 1976, 22.

^86.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Mit der Spritze leben,” August 21, 1976, 17.

^87.Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, “Medizin muss helfen,” August 18, 1976.

^88. It is not quite clear whether some sport reporters did know about the affair before. Thus, the FAZ published a satirical piece on performance enhancement in October 1976 in which the use of an air pump for improving hydrodynamics is presented as a rather grotesque innovation, cf. U. Kaiser, “Professor Kaludrigkeit löst das Dopingproblem,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, October 28, 1977, 21.

^89. O. Stubbe, “Unglaublich: Unsere Olympia-Schwimmer aufgepumpt,” Bild, February 2, 1977, 20.

^90. R. Benecke, “Medaillenjagd mit Luft im Darm,” Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, February 4, 1977, 50; Süddeutsche Zeitung, “‘Unternehmen Luftballon’ gescheitert,” February 4, 1977, 50.

^91. O. Stubbe, “Schwimmer wollten 100 000 DM Honorar für Luft bezahlen…,” Bild, February 4, 1977, 29; Bild, “Die Luftpumpe kam aus der ‘DDR’,” February 8, 1977, 13.

^92.Huba, “Die aufgepumpten Schwimmer von Montreal.”

^93.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Eine Kuh als Dopingmittel,” December 7, 1977, 23.

^94. Thus, press coverage was allusive of more or hidden references to bowels and flatulence. For example, when reporting on the DSV refusal to pay for the ‘air clyster’, the SZ titled ‘gold-ass with intestinal obstruction’, cf. K. Morgenstern, “Dukatenesel mit Darmverschluss,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 7, 1977, 24.

^95. H.-J. Justen, “‘Schuss in den Ofen’,” Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, February 4, 1977, 50.

^96.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Dicke Luft im Sportbund,” April 15, 1977, 24.

^97.Süddeutsche Zeitung, “Merkwürdige Methoden,” February 5/6, 1977, 31.

^98. R. Heggen, “Goldene Zeiten nur noch eine schöne Erinnerung,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 13, 1977, 18.

^99. G. Rensmann, “Mörkens Eltern ahnten den Erfolg,” Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, August 19, 1977, Sports section, 1; G. Heydn, “Schwimmer brillierten,” Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, August 22, 1977, Sports section, 1; W. Weingärtner, “Mörken erteilt zweite Lektion,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, August 19, 1977, 29.

^100. R. Heggen, “Perfekte Technik, harte Arbeit,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, August 19, 1977, 24; W. Weingärtner, “Furioser Start bei den Schwimmern,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, August 17, 1977, 25.

^101. B.E. Müller, “Traning ist besser als aufpumpen,” Bild, February 3, 1977, 24.

^102.Knecht, “Komplott?;” Meyer confirmed this in his account: Meyer, Betr. Luftdusche Montreal, 4.

^103. L. Dotzert, “Ein Geruch von Apotheke,” Frankfurter Rundschau, May 7, 1977. In his response, Gieseler claimed to have not known about the specific purpose of the contract (Gieseler to Frankfurter Rundschau, May 16, 1977). The editor as well as the article's author deemed this depiction as unconvincing and insisted that Gieseler could have assumed that the notification referred to a specific purpose (Holzer to Gieseler, May 18, 1977; Dotzert to Gieseler, May 26, 1977). However, Gieseler insisted on his demand for a counterstatement, cf. Gieseler to Holzer, May 18, 1977; Gieseler to Holzer, May 23, 1977.

^104. Gieseler to DSV, May 25, 1977; Gieseler to Beyer, June 8, 1977.

^105. Beyer to Gieseler, June 24, 1977.

^106. Cf. Heydn,“‘Luftduschen’ nutzten nichts.”

^107.Donike an ZDF-Sportredaktion, March 28, 1977.

^108.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “An der ‘Luft-Affäre’ scheiden sich die Geister,” May 23, 1977.

^109.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Bundesregierung weiß nichts von Luft im Darm,” March 19, 1977, 21.

^110. Minutes of the 4th Session of the Sport Committee the 8th legislative term, May 11, 1977, see also Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Bonn hat nicht für Luft im Darm gezahlt,” April 21, 1977, 23.

^111.Anonymous, “‘Luft-Dusche’ ohne finanzielles Nachspiel,” 378. While DSV and BA-L considered the agreed performance increase targets as unfulfilled since the ‘air clyster’ had not improved sporting performance in Montreal, the goalie's lawyer argued that the contract did not include any stipulations demanding Olympic medals or a performance increase during the Montreal Olympics, cf. Huba, “Die aufgepumpten Schwimmer von Montreal.”

^112. Brief Minutes of the 7th Session of the Sport Committee the 8th legislative term, October 19, 1977.

^113.Süddeutsche Zeitung, “‘Kein Geld für Dopingmittel’,” March 25, 1977, 41.

^114. Bundestagsdrucksache 8/2850, 9.

^115. Stenografisches Protokoll über die Anhörung von Sachverständigen in der 6. Sitzung des Sportausschusses am 8. September 1977 in Bonn, 9.

^116.Grupe, “Der Athlet im Mittelpunkt,” 5.

^117. K.A. Scherer, “Weyer will Amnestie für ‘Doping-Sünder’,” Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, May 11, 1977, 30; K.A. Scherer, “Weyer stellt sich vor Anabolikasünder,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 12, 1977, 42; Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, “Absage an Manipulation,” June 13, 1977, 3.

^118.DSB, Deutscher Sportbund 1974–1978, 25.

^119.Grupe, “Der Athlet im Mittelpunkt,” 8.

^120.Gieseler, “Das freie Spiel der Kräfte,” 144.

^121.Bundesregierung, Fünfter Sportbericht der Bundesregierung, 32; Bette, Die Trainerrolle im Hochleistungssport, 37.

^122.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “‘Ein Wettrüsten an allen Fronten’,” October 18, 1977, 23.

^123.Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “29 ‘Planstellen’ für die medizinische Betreuung,” August 8, 1977, 18.

^124.Meier, Reinold and Rose, “Dopingskandale in der alten Bundesrepublik.”

^125.Bette and Schimank, Dopingfalle, 214–6; Brunsson, Organization of Hypocrisy.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Henk Erik Meier

Henk Erik Meier is a professor for the social sciences of sport at the Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Münster. His research interests include the history, politics and economics of sport.

Marcel Reinold

Marcel Reinold is research assistant at the Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences at the University of Münster. His research focuses on international and German doping history.