Folder with information brochures on doping preparations
© CWM

The drug manufacturer Jenapharm published an anthology with information booklets as additional information on the marketed preparations.
Besides the chemical structure, the application, effects and side effects were described.

Both in the West, including the Federal Republic of Germany, and in the East, doping took place at the sports level from the 1970s onward.
In the GDR, doping was organized by the state: Under the name "Staatsplanthema 14.25," oral turinabol, among other things, was administered to competitive athletes as an anabolic steroid. Its main purpose was to build muscle quickly, which is why it was used in particular in the disciplines of swimming, discus throwing and shot put, but also in other strength and sprint disciplines.
Two administration forms with different dosage are distinguished: The lighter tablets were pink and contained 1mg of active ingredient each. The stronger, blue tablets contained 5 mg. These were also known as "blue lightning" or "blue beans". The doping agents were usually administered to the athletes without knowledge of the actual effect.

The active ingredient of the tablets is dehydrochloromethyltestosterone , an artificial male hormone. It was originally developed for healing purposes after surgery.

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Oral Turinabol with 5mg active ingredient

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Solemn ceremony at a sports and gymnastics festival in the GDR
© Federal Archive

The GDR saw the promotion of sports as a state task.
All means were justified in doing so. The Sports Medicine Service (SMD) played a decisive role.

Sports were promoted early on in the GDR. Various sports clubs made it possible to promote the talent of young athletes, who were given economic security even after they had finished school if they showed recognizable athletic potential. Thus, promising athletes received employment and training contracts with full pay from companies, although they hardly had to be present at the workplace, if at all.
This fully financed their advanced sports education and, in addition, provided them with material goods such as cars and generous housing from the state.
Because of these privileges, most of them were loyal to the SED, but this loyalty was also due to the isolation and elevation of athletes in relation to other sectors of society.

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Logo of the Sports Medical Service (SMD)
© wiki.commons

The SMD was to provide for the health of athletes. In addition to healing injuries, it was also intended to optimize fitness, which was to be promoted by tablets and other forms of administration.
Internally, terms such as "supporting agents" (UM) circulated, which were administered to athletes. UMs were mostly anabolic steroids and other doping agents.
Led by the top of the "Deutscher Turn- und Sportbund" (DTSB, German Gymnastics and Sports Federation) and the SMD, doping had been practiced in the GDR since the end of the 1960s throughout the country and across all ages, i.e. also in the youth sector.

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Coca Cola plastic cup with both the original and the Cyrillic title
© CWM

From the 1980 Moscow Olympics

Coca Cola was served at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. Although Coca Cola did not enter the Soviet market until 1985, the Coca Cola brand had been a major sponsor of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 1928. The population of the Eastern Bloc countries was previously only familiar with Pepsi Cola products, which were introduced in the Soviet Union in 1975.

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Pepsi Cola logo with Cyrillic script
© Rones

Before the introduction of Pepsi Cola, a famous Soviet personality had already developed a taste for Coca Cola in the 1940s: Georgy Zhukov, Marshal of the USSR from 1943-1947, tried Coca Cola during a state visit to the USA.
However, the drink was considered "imperialistic" in the East, which is why he could not drink it in public. At Zhukov's request, then U.S. President Harry S. Truman commissioned the Coca Cola company to produce a colorless cola. This way, people could no longer tell that Zhukov and other party officials were drinking Coke.
The "White Cola" was bottled in transparent glass bottles and sealed with a white lid with a red star.

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A special edition of the ruble for the 1980 Moscow Olympics
© CWM

In 1977, the production of these ruble editions began. The motifs depicted are the various sports disciplines, as well as the Kremlin or Lenin Stadium in Moscow.

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An information brochure on the football semi-final between the GDR and the USSR at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow
© CWM

The GDR and the USSR met in the men's soccer semifinals at the Olympic Games in Moscow. The GDR won the match 1:0.
In the subsequent final, the GDR lost 0:1 to the team from Czechoslovakia.

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A ticket to the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow

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A wall plate with the inscription "Олимпийские игры Москва 1980" (German: Olympische Spiele Moskau 1980).

Made by a Danish porcelain company, which traditionally made such special plates for the Olympic Games.

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Press information about GDR athletes at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

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