East Germany (GDR)

The German Democratic Republic (frequently termed East Germany) was formed on 7 October 1949 after the division of Germany into two countries after World War II. East Germany founded its own National Olympic Committee on 22 April 1951, which was only recognized provisorily by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 51st IOC session in Paris (1955) on condition that both Germanies had to form a combined team for the 1956 Olympics. The problem of the “Two Germanies” perplexed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for two decades (see Germany). From 1952 until 1964, the two nations purportedly competed at the Olympics as a single combined team. However, it should be noted that in 1952, a combined German team was planned and envisioned by the IOC but the GDR refused to start in an all-German team and no East German athletes competed on the 1952 “combined“ team. On 5 October 1965 at the IOC session in Madrid the NOC of East Germany was given full recognition. In 1968 at Mexico City and Grenoble, the two Germanys competed as separate teams, but under the same banner, and using the same anthem and flag. The German Democratic Republic, however, was forced to use the name East Germany in 1968, a name that it detested. At the IOC session during the 1968 Summer Games, full recognition came to the German Democratic Republic when it was allowed to compete at the Olympics, beginning in 1972, using its correct name, with its own anthem, emblems, and uniforms.

Between 1956 and 1988, the GDR developed into a true Olympic powerhouse. Beginning with the 1968 Olympics, it was one of the three most powerful sporting nations in the world, with the United States and the Soviet Union. The German Democratic Republic, competing as an independent nation, won 519 Olympic medals, 409 at the Olympic Games and 110 at the Olympic Winter Games. Of these, 192 were gold medals, 39 of which were won at the Olympic Winter Games. The most successful athlete from GDR was Kristin Otto who won all her six gold medals in swimming at the 1988 Games, the last Olympics East Germany competed.

In 1958 the Olympic Committees of East and West Germany were awarded with the Count Alberto Bonacossa Trophy.

The sporting leviathan was fully state-supported, with the help of a highly advanced sports medicine program, and the athletes were treated royally in their country. After the re-unification of Germany, it was revealed that the GDR’s sports medical program had helped develop many of its athletes by the use of drugs.