Ekkart Arbeit
From WikiRun
| Ekkart Arbeit | |
| Nationality | German |
|---|---|
| Current Residence | South Africa |
Ekkart Arbeit was head coach for throwing events of the East German track and field team from 1982-88 and chief coach in 1989-90.
Although he was a sports scientist, he never personally gave drugs to athletes, but allegedly oversaw such use and helped the East German government develop their doping policy from 1968. Arbeit was also exposed as an informer for the East German secret police, the Stasi. In 1995, Professor Werner Franke led a German parliamentary investigation into the use of drugs in sport in the former communist country, and unearthed files that showed that Arbeit, operating under the codename Claus Tisch, had filed more than 1,000 pages of spy reports to the Stasi. Franke also said that Arbeit had reported two doctors to the East German authorities for refusing to administer drugs to athletes.[1]
He coached Denise Lewis, who won the 2000 Olympic heptathlon gold medal, in the throws while she prepared for the 2004 Olympics.[2]
He was appointed the Austrialian coach in October 1997.[3] He is currently head coach of Athletics South Africa.[4]
Arbeit came into controversy at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics when one of the female athletes that he coached, Caster Semenya, was subjected to gender testing. This prompted further media investigations which uncovered the fact that one of Arbeit's female athletes, Heidi Krieger had received so many steriods under East Germany's state-sponsored drug program, that she needed to have a sex-reassignment surgery.[5][6]
Audio Interviews
References
- ↑ Mott, Sue. "Athletics: British athletics should be wary of Dr Arbeit", Daily Telegraph, April 23, 2003. Retrieved on 2009-08-26.
- ↑ Gaunt, Ken. "Athletics: Dick backs Lewis for using 'perfect' Arbeit", The Independent, June 30, 2003. Retrieved on 2009-12-24.
- ↑ http://www.coolrunning.com.au/news/1997n050.shtml
- ↑ http://www.athletics.org.za/News/FullNewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=190 Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ↑ Hart, Simon. "Caster Semenya tests 'show high testosterone levels'", Daily Telegraph, Aug 24, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-08-26.
- ↑ Chadband, Ian. "Caster Semenya's poise under spotlight earning respect", Daily Telegraph, Aug 21, 2009. Retrieved on 2009-08-26.