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. Thisbook 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.
