Sport under Communism

About this book

This book is the first in-depth exploration of why East Germany was, for two decades, one of the three most successful nations in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Based on original Stasi and Communist Party archival sources, the book evaluates the significant factors behind the GDR's rise to sporting supremacy, notably doping, intensive training regimes, specialist sport schools, heavy investment by the state in elite sport, and the comprehensive guarding of top-level sport by the Stasi. This book reveals how the central elite sports system was beset by internal tensions and disputes, by the personal ambitions of top Communist officials and by local and regional interests, and outlines how this system offers a model for elite sport today.