German Sports, Doping, and Politics

Michael Krüger is professor of Physical Education and Sports History at the University of Muenster in Germany. He is council member of the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport (ISHPES).Christian Becker is a sports historian and publisher in Hildesheim, Germany.Stefan Nielsen is a historian and editor in Muenster, Germany.

• Introduction – Basics and Problem DefinitionThe Role of Doping in the Relationship between Politics, Sporting Policies, and Sports Methodological Basics: Sources and DocumentsState of the ArtScientific Debate on Doping and Public MoralizationProblems of Empirical Evaluation and Proving DopingI. From Common Practice to Prohibition – the Beginnings of Doping and Anti-Doping in German Sport of the 1950s and 1960sIntroductionSport in the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World WarStructures and Self-Perceptions of the German Federal Sports OrganizationsSports PolicyPhysical Health as a Common Objective – a Legitimation for State SponsoringCompetitive Sports and National Representation: The Delayed Start – Germany in the Context of International Sports DevelopmentThe “Medicalization” of Society and Sport and other Doping and Anti-Doping IssuesSpread and Development of Anti-Doping in the 1950s and 1960sSelf-Concept and Functions of German Sports MedicineAnti-Doping Polic

Those knowledgeable about sporting history know that athletes have sought performance-enhancing substances since antiquity. The literature on recent sports history includes extensive research on doping in East Germany. Now Krüger, Becker, and Nielsen (all sports historians based in Germany) document a research project—sponsored by the German Olympic Sports Federation—examining the history of doping, and anti-doping, in West Germany from 1950 onward. Contending that the doping problem is contextual rather than individualized, the authors consider the role West German politics, sports organizations, and officials played in the history of doping. The book moves from doping during the 1950s and 1960s, to the increased focus on anabolic steroid use and coordinated efforts in anti-doping, to doping and anti-doping in the context of German reunification. The authors base their claims on thorough research of the archives of sources such as German sports federations and academic publications and on written documentation from notable politicians and sports officials. Though this book will appeal to anyone interested in the Olympics or sports history, it will be most valuable to those studying doping and anti-doping movements in sport. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers.