It was 20 years ago that the Berlin Wall came tumbling down
and along with it the fall of communist countries in Eastern
Europe.
It was a victory for the idealism of freedom, which was often
perceived to go hand in hand with capitalism.
Are we free in a capitalist society that often makes us feel
enslaved to consumerism and consumption?
Are capitalist countries performing better in sport than the
small nation of East Germany did behind the Iron Curtain?
East Germany, or the German Democratic Republic, was one of
the eastern European nations that was aligned with the Soviet
Union, and sport was used by the Eastern Bloc as an agent of
social change controlled and manipulated by the state.
With rose-tinted glasses on, sport was an excellent tool for
nation building, integration, strengthening national defence,
health and hygiene, promoting certain social policies, and
enhancing international recognition and prestige.
It seemed to work, too.
At the Seoul Olympics in 1988 the Soviet Union topped the
medals table with 132 medals, followed closely by East
Germany with 102 and the United States with 94.
The state system gave all individuals, irrespective of their
ethnicity, gender or age, the opportunity to achieve their
potential and pursue sporting excellence.
Of course, this often led to extreme exploitation for some
children and individuals, which included being forced to take
anabolic steroids.
Has the face of sport changed much since the fall of the
Eastern Bloc?
Were capitalist nations and athletes as good and pure as they
were made out to be during the Cold War?
Have steroids and doping in general been eliminated from
sport as a result of pulling the Iron Curtain off its rails?
In 1988, Ben Johnson the Canadian became Ben Johnson the
Jamaican when he tested positive for drugs after winning the
100m final.
We now know that other athletes in that final were not as
righteous and innocent as they made out, including Mr
America, Carl Lewis, whose lithe body and million-dollar
smile were portrayed as the antithesis to Johnson's bulky
frame and moody mug shots.
Johnson's positive test did create momentum, however, for the
anti-doping movement because it suggested that this doping
problem was not just an Eastern Bloc problem.
As well as an intensive doping programme, sport academies and
youth development programmes were popular in East Germany.
Since the 1990s, they have been popular in Australia and New
Zealand in schools and government-funded initiatives.
So are we providing opportunities for these promising
athletes or exploiting them? Is it a bit of both?Governments
are still pumping resources and public funds into sport just
like the Eastern Bloc did during the Cold War.
The rationale, however, has shifted.
The argument that sport, especially professional sport,
develops character and strong, upstanding citizens is not as
strong as it used to be.
Reasons for using public funds to promote sport are now more
about economic growth and prosperity (although evidence for
this is limited).
The Eastern Bloc used sport to promote an image of national
unity, equality and success.
The Western Bloc also promotes this image, but uses market
forces, globalisation and commercialism in an attempt to do
so.
Has this capitalist approach been any more successful than
the communist one? At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China (a
communist nation) topped the medal table with 100 medals (51
gold), followed closely by the United States, which amassed
110 medals (36 gold), Russia (72 medals) and Germany (41
medals).
If the number of medals is a measure of success, then it's a
close race between China and the US, and there is a lot of
daylight between these two heavyweight nations and Russia and
Germany, the big players of the 1980s.
Perhaps we should ask past athletes about their experiences
in sport during the Cold War.
Athletes like Heidi Krieger, who accused her coach of giving
her so many drugs that she was forced to become a man,
undergoing a sex-change operation to become Andreas Krieger.
Sport can be a useful tool for portraying a certain national
image to the world, but at what price to the individuals
involved?
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