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

Hunt, Thomas M.; Dimeo, Paul; Hemme, Florian; Mueller, Anne E.

doi:10.1080/09523367.2014.922959

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…They had no jurisdiction beyond the scope of the Games and no ability to investigate national sporting systems. By the time of the 1972 Olympics, East Germany, the USSR, West Germany and so a lesser extent the USA, had organised doping methods in order to ensure competitive parity at a time when the Olympics had powerful ideological significance (Hunt and Dimeo 2014). While members of the IOC might have wished to preserve some historically grounded idealism around amateur values and anti-doping, the reality was at the other end of the spectrum.…”

Section: Steroids the Impossibility Of Clean Sport And The Façade Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

The myth of clean sport and its unintended consequences

Dimeo

2016

Performance Enhancement & Health

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Anti-doping has long been premised on the myth of clean sport, a consistent vision that has survived changes in the social and cultural environment. This article starts with a discussion of the meaning of clean sport focusing on the gap between this idealisation and practice. It then traces the historical emergence of this myth, briefly explaining its cultural foundations, and its influence on incompetition drug testing development in the 1960s. It will be argued that clean sport only made sense when the focus was on in-competition use of stimulants. The emergence of drugs such as steroids, used out of competitions, created a conflict between the reality of doping practices and the mythical past and future idealisation of sport as clean. Nonetheless anti-doping leaders maintained their public position that testing systems could defeat doping practices. Due to the continuity of ethical ideas, the construction of health fears, and public scandals, the World Anti-Doping Agency pressed on with, and was empowered by, the absolutist clean sport vision leading to the conceptually flawed, contradictory, draconian and problematic policy environment we face today.

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Section: Steroids the Impossibility Of Clean Sport And The Façade Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

The myth of clean sport and its unintended consequences

Dimeo

2016

Performance Enhancement & Health

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“…To this end the early history of drug use in a bodybuilding context and sport doping shared a common pre-history. As suggested by Hunt et al (2014) this history can also be placed within a framework of the Cold War and the different approaches to doping found during this time in, for example, east Germany and the USA (see also Dimeo 2006).…”

Section: The Pre-history Of Bodybuilding Gym Culture and Dopingmentioning

confidence: 93%

Bodybuilding and Fitness Doping in Transition. Historical Transformations and Contemporary Challenges

Andreasson

Johansson

2019

Social Sciences

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This article describes and analyses the historical development of gym and fitness culture in general and doping use in this context in particular. Theoretically, the paper utilises the concept of subculture and explores how a subcultural response can be used analytically in relation to processes of cultural normalisation as well as marginalisation. The focus is on historical and symbolic negotiations that have occurred over time, between perceived expressions of extreme body cultures and sociocultural transformations in society—with a perspective on fitness doping in public discourse. Several distinct phases in the history of fitness doping are identified. First, there is an introductory phase in the mid-1950s, in which there is an optimism connected to modernity and thoughts about scientifically-engineered bodies. Secondly, in the 1960s and 70s, a distinct bodybuilding subculture is developed, cultivating previously unseen muscular male bodies. Thirdly, there is a critical phase in the 1980s and 90s, where drugs gradually become morally objectionable. The fourth phase, the fitness revolution, can be seen as a transformational phase in gym culture. The massive bodybuilding body is replaced with the well-defined and moderately muscular fitness body, but at the same time there are strong commercialised values which contribute to the development of a new doping market. Finally, it is possible to speculate on the development of a fifth phase, in which fitness doping is increasingly being filtered into mainstream gym and fitness culture, influencing the fitness doping demography.

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“…Otro elemento que podría influir en los resultados de las competiciones deportivas es el uso de las sustancias dopantes. Mientras que en la URSS y en la RDA el empleo de dichas sustancias por los deportistas se realizaba bajo la supervisión médica, los deportistas occidentales, debido a unas políticas antidopaje más restrictivas, se veían obligados a acudir al mercado negro, lo que ocasionaba mayores riesgos para su salud y podía provocar un descenso en su capacidad de rendimiento deportivo (Harries, 1985;Hunt et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discusión Y Conclusionesunclassified

“…El objetivo de obtener medallas sustituyó las principales finalidades de los Juegos, que consistían, según Coubertin (1973), en competir lo mejor posible y establecerse como un instrumento pedagógico de primer nivel (Martínez et al, 2016) que permite un desarrollo positivo en los jóvenes (Holt & Neely, 2011). En múltiples ocasiones, para conseguir las medallas, los deportistas recurrirían al dopaje; por este motivo deporte y dopaje pasaron a ser términos íntimamente relacionados, igual que sucede en la actualidad (Álvarez et al, 2017); sin embargo, mientras que la Unión de Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas y la República Democrática Alemana eran más permisivas con dichos métodos -debido a que los deportistas contaban con supervisión médica durante estas prácticas-, los deportistas de los Estados Unidos y de la República Federal de Alemania se veían obligados a acudir al mercado negro -dadas las políticas antidopaje vigentes-con el consiguiente peligro para la salud (Hunt et al, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

URSS vs. EEUU, RDA vs. RFA: Guerra Fría en los Juegos Olímpicos de Verano (1952-1988) (U.S.S.R. vs. USA, GDR vs. FRG: Cold War at the Summer Olympics (1952-1988))

Quijada

Molkova

2017

Retos

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Durante la Guerra Fría (1947-1991), las cuestiones geopolíticas determinaron el desarrollo del deporte internacional. Los Juegos Olímpicos se convirtieron en la arena de la lucha no solo deportiva sino política. Las victorias deportivas se utilizaban para mostrar la supremacia política, económica e ideológica de los países participantes. En la presente investigación se realiza un análisis de los medallistas de la Unión de Repúblicas Socialistas Soviéticas (URSS), los Estados Unidos (EEUU), la República Democrática Alemana (RDA) y la República Federal de Alemania (RFA) en los Juegos Olímpicos de Verano entre los años 1952 y 1988. Se analiza una muestra de 1945 medallistas olímpicos provenientes de los países indicados que compitieron durante 8 ediciones de los Juegos Olímpicos. Se excluyen del estudio los Juegos de Moscú 1980 y Los Ángeles 1984 debido a los boicots políticos por parte de EEUU y la RFA, y de la URSS y la RDA respectivamente. Los resultados del estudio muestran una clara superioridad de la URSS frente a los EE.UU. en casi todas las características estudiadas. La RDA, a su vez, supera a la RFA en la mayoría de variables analizadas. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto una supremacía de los países del bloque del este en los Juegos Olímpicos de Verano durante la Guerra Fría.Abstract. During the Cold War (1947-1991), geopolitical issues influenced international sports events. The Olympic Games became a space not only for sports competitions, but also for political clashes. Sports victories were used to pinpoint political, economic and ideological supremacy of the participating countries. The aim of the present research was to analyze the Summer Olympic medalists from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), United States of America (USA), the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in the period 1952-1988. We analyzed 1,945 Olympic medalists from above-mentioned countries, competing during 8 Summer Olympic Games. The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles were excluded due to political boycotts by the USA and the FRG and by the U.S.S.R. and the GDR, respectively. The results of our research show clear superiority of U.S.S.R in comparison to USA in almost all characteristics studied. GDR was better than FRG in most of the analyzed variables. Our outcomes reveal the supremacy of the Eastern Bloc countries at the Summer Olympics during the Cold War.

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

Cited by 9 publications

References 20 publications

The myth of clean sport and its unintended consequences

The myth of clean sport and its unintended consequences

Bodybuilding and Fitness Doping in Transition. Historical Transformations and Contemporary Challenges

URSS vs. EEUU, RDA vs. RFA: Guerra Fría en los Juegos Olímpicos de Verano (1952-1988) (U.S.S.R. vs. USA, GDR vs. FRG: Cold War at the Summer Olympics (1952-1988))

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