east germans cheat 0:

What should a sport's guardians do when they learn that its orderly progression of records has been tainted by cheating? The IAAF, the organization that oversees track and field around the world, offered one answer to that question two years ago after Ben Johnson admitted under oath during a Canadian government inquiry that he had used anabolic steroids before the 1987 world championships. On the basis of that confession, the IAAF strippedJohnson not only of the gold medal he had won in the 100 in those championships but also of the world record he had set in doing so.

The question was raised again last week when 20 swim coaches from what used to be East Germany admitted giving steroids, which had been banned by FINA, their sport's governing body, to some of their world-class swimmers in the 1970s and '80s. East German sports officials showed no compunction whatsoever about exploiting young athletes for the greater good of promoting national glory.

It's hard not to feel sorry for those athletes who were manipulated so shamelessly. It's also hard not to feel sympathy for the generation of women athletes of other countries who had to swim in the shadow of their juiced-up East German counterparts. In 1976, Shirley Babashoff was all set to be the Mark Spitz of the MontrealOlympics. She was expected to be a contender for four individual gold medals and had set a world record in the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. Olympic trials.

But the Olympics were phenomenally frustrating for Babashoff. Though she swam superbly, going under the previous world-record times in the 400 and 800 freestyles, she was beaten in both those races by Petra Th�mer ofEast Germany, which won 11 of the 13 golds in women's swimming. Babashoff won no individual events, and it was not until the last women's event, the 4 X 100 free relay, that she finally won a gold medal, by anchoring the U.S.team to victory in world-record time.