{"id":13191,"date":"2016-02-05T08:30:04","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T15:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/uncategorized\/2007\/01\/exclusive-shirley-babashoff-breaks-30-year-silence-on-east-germanys-systematic-doping-of-olympians\/"},"modified":"2016-04-28T13:05:50","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T20:05:50","slug":"exclusive-shirley-babashoff-breaks-30-year-silence-on-east-germanys-systematic-doping-of-olympians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/exclusive-shirley-babashoff-breaks-30-year-silence-on-east-germanys-systematic-doping-of-olympians\/","title":{"rendered":"2007 Vault: Shirley Babashoff Breaks 30-Year Silence on East Germany’s Systematic Doping of Olympians"},"content":{"rendered":"

2016 is the 40th Anniversary of 1976 Olympics. The following article reflected on those games and the truth about that era. \u00a0It was first published January 9, 2007 and Swimming World wants to share some of those painful lessons with today’s readers. \u00a0USA Swimming produced a documentary on the 1976 Women’s team called Last Gold. \u00a0The movie will be released this spring along with a number of books on the subject. \u00a0It is important that the sport remembers its past to safeguard its future. –\u00a0By Brent Rutemiller<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

IT was reported in January of \u00a02007, that one hundred and sixty-seven former East German (DDR) athletes will be financially compensated through Germany’s Olympic Committee for the systematic doping of DDR athletes from 1973 through 1989. When told of this fact, Shirley Babashoff<\/strong>‘s first comment was, “Only 167 Athletes!”<\/p>\n

Reports from the East German Cold War Stasi files, first obtained by Phil Whitten<\/strong> and reported in Swimming World Magazine<\/i>, indicated that more than 10,000 athletes were party to the abuse; most unknowingly and without parent permission. Many of the women have gone on to experience psychological problems or have delivered children with birth defects from the after-effects of doping.<\/p>\n

“It is really sad that it has taken this long before someone even thought about the people,” said Babashoff. As a member of the USA Women’s Olympic Swim Team, she was the most visible victim of the injustice during the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada.<\/p>\n

Babashoff was branded by the media as a poor sportsperson for her comments implying that the East German women were on growth hormones. Headlines called her “Surly Shirley”. Favored to win multiple gold medals, she came away with four silver and only one gold medal.<\/p>\n

According to Mark Schuber<\/strong>t, her coach at the time, “She was the only one that had the guts to speak out back then. If anybody had the right to speak out, it was her because she was the one that was cheated out of Olympic gold medals.”<\/p>\n

If the record books were to remove all the East German performances for that Olympics, Babashoff would have been the toast of the town with 5 gold medals and one bronze. Instead, she got roasted. “She was abhorred by the media”, Coach Schubert concluded.<\/p>\n

The media branded Shirley and her teammates as Ugly Americans. Bob Ingram, in the September 1976 issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/i> wrote: The American Women found themselves in the position of Ugly Americans, thanks to some comments from a few of the girls\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

Rather than congratulating the winners, specifically the DDR swimmers, as is customary in the true Olympic spirit of competition, a few of the American girls opted to cry sour grapes instead\u2026<\/p>\n

“To be frank, I don’t think we should look like men.”\u2026
\n“I wouldn’t want to walk around the neighborhood looking like a guy.”\u2026
\n“That’s not the way God created us \u2013 to be like that (looking like DDR Swimmers)”\u2026<\/p>\n

The American blasts even went so far as criticizing the low voices of some of the DDR girls. But as on DDR official said, “we came here to swim, not to sing.”<\/p>\n

$\"1976-WomenSlideShow\"$
Photo Courtesy: Swimming World Magazine<\/p><\/div>\n

\nThey say that time has a way of mending all wounds, but this wound still needs healing.<\/b><\/p>\n
The 1976 USA Women’s Olympic Team was right to cry foul. The USA team set nine American records at those Olympic Games only to see every record eclipsed by an East German swimmer riding high in the water from a systematic state-orchestrated drug program that claimed titles in 10 out of 11 individual races.<\/p>\n
Race after race, the USA women were shocked and demoralized. Their only redemption was a chance to defeat the illegal East German medal machine with a showdown in the 400 freestyle relay.<\/p>\n
Going into the last event of the games, the East Germans already held the world record with a time of 3:48.80. The United States held the Olympic record with a time that was 6.7 seconds slower \u2013 a huge margin to overcome. Although that time was set four years ago with Babashoff the only returning member, the odds were truly against Team USA, which so desperately wanted to put a dagger into the heart of their living nightmare.<\/p>\n
To listen to Jack Nelson<\/strong>, USA’s Head Women’s Swim Coach, emotionally describe what unfolded when Kim Peyton<\/strong>, Wendy Boglioli<\/strong>, Jill Sterkel<\/strong> and Babashoff stepped up for that race, listen to Swimming World Radio below.\u00a0It is a classic underdog story in what history has deemed the greatest female relay race of all time.<\/p>\n\n\t
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