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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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1 5 - 0 2 - 2 0 0 5 Stasi agent helps China
By Nicole Jeffery
A HEAD coach of the disgraced East German sports-doping regime has surfaced in China after disappearing almost 13 years ago. Helga Pfeiffer, who was a Leipzig-based national coach, dropped out of sight in the early 1990s after German reunification, and nothing was heard of her until a seemingly innocuous article appeared in the Shanghai Daily last week. The report, announcing the launch of China's first flume facility for training elite swimmers, mentioned Pfeiffer as a "German professor of flume technology" who was visiting China for several weeks. A flume is swimming's equivalent of a treadmill. However, Germany's foremost expert on the former East German doping system, molecular biology professor Werner Franke, said Pfeiffer was one of the "criminals" who committed sports fraud for two decades before the fall of the Berlin Wall. "She was the head coach of GDR swimming, who was also involved in the distribution and application of anabolic steroids to young swimmers," Franke said. "While some of the other criminals involved ... received sentences in the criminal court of law, she simply had disappeared." Franke said Pfeiffer was listed in Stasi (secret police) files as one of those responsible for the "central organised doping project of the government". Pfeiffer's reappearance in Shanghai raises fears about China's commitment to the anti-doping cause as it prepares to host the next Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008. Throughout the 1990s, the Chinese Swimming Association was beset by drug scandals. The biggest furore occurred at the 1998 world championships in Perth, when Chinese breaststroker Yuan Yuan was discovered by the Australian Customs Service to be carrying a quantity of human growth hormone in her luggage. Four more Chinese swimmers then gave positive drug tests in Perth just days before the championships began. Under enormous worldwide pressure, the International Swimming Federation (FINA) insisted China address its doping problem. Only one Chinese swimmer has tested positive since 2001 and the international performance of the Chinese team has slumped. They won just two medals at the Athens Olympics. It is widely believed among sports experts that China is now working diligently against doping. The Australian Olympic Committee signed a cooperative agreement with its Chinese counterpart late last year to increase sporting exchanges for their mutual benefit. Both Australia and China will contest the world championships in Montreal, Canada, in July. AOC president John Coates was not perturbed to hear of Pfeiffer's appearance in China. "We are satisfied the Chinese are doing everything possible to combat doping in sport," Coates said. "And this woman's involvement in flume technology, which is perfectly legal, doesn't alter their stance." When China's drugs problems emerged during the 1990s, it was likened to the systematic doping in East Germany. |
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