Athlete says sports steroids forced sex change -- CNN.com

[CapnHook]

Posted: 8/11/08 at 8:01pm

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/08/11/sexchange.athlete/index.html

BERLIN, Germany (CNN) -- Heidi Krieger proved herself one of the world's top athletes in the 1980s, winning medal after medal in the shot put for East Germany.

Andreas Krieger says his body changed soon after he began taking what coaches said were vitamins.

Now, the former sports star looks disdainfully at the awards, dismissing them as "doping medals" and honors that turned a woman into a man.

Heidi Krieger, the 1986 European women's shot-put champion, became Andreas Krieger after a sex-change operation in 1997. He says he had been fed so many steroids by his coaches without his knowledge that physical and emotional problems began.

The young woman's physique changed drastically, as did her feelings. "I felt much more attracted to women and just felt like a man. But I knew I was not lesbian," Krieger told CNN.

Her coaches said they were giving her vitamin pills, but they were actually feeding her Oral-Turinabol anabolic steroids. Watch how Krieger's body changed »

Krieger is among an estimated 10,000 East German athletes thought to have been given performance-enhancing drugs to help build their country into a sports powerhouse.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the German Democratic Republic was one of the most successful Olympic Games nations. But after the fall of Soviet Communism, it was revealed just how much steroids were fueling the medal machine. Sports leaders, including Manfred Ewald, the head of East Germany's National Olympic Committee from 1973 until 1990, were convicted in the doping programs.

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Krieger, who is now married and runs an army surplus store, says he has taken his life into his own hands and does not want to be seen as a victim.

But he and other former East German athletes tricked by their coaches are worried that too little has been learned from their plight.

Doping remains a major issue in sports, and many drug tests will be conducted in Beijing, China, as officials try to catch any cheats hoping to go undetected and get Olympic glory.

Experts say the next step for sportsmen and women looking for an illegal boost to physical performance could be gene therapy -- so-called "gene doping."

Sports physician Willi Heepe said gene therapy means the body will basically dope itself.

If that happens, "the human monster will be a reality," he told CNN.

Krieger is worried that the pressure to win could create new victims.

"If today's athletes say they want to take the risk, they really don't know what risk they are taking," he said.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 8/11/08 at 9:15pm

"Krieger is among an estimated 10,000 East German athletes thought to have been given performance-enhancing drugs "

And how many of them became transgendered because of the drugs?

I wish there was a way to know for certain if the drugs made him transgendered or if he would have been transgendered regardless.

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 8/11/08 at 9:36pm

where are the pics so we can "see" like the article says?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 12:56am

It's hard for me to feel bad for the athletes. They have to know that their coaches are not always being honest and not always looking out for their best interest. It's an unfortunate situation, but I have to think any rational person whose body began to change like that would question the mysterious "vitamins" that were being given to them.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 10:33am

"I wish there was a way to know for certain if the drugs made him transgendered or if he would have been transgendered regardless."

I'm not going to pretend to understand this but I will comment. There is a case study you have all probably heard about concerning twin boys and a botched circumcision. The twin with the botched circumcision was raised as a girl and was given hormones to change his sex at puberty. It didn't work. It didn't work at all, and what transpired was really tragic.

Of course this could all be case by case I don't know but I know of that other story.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:15pm

I'm not certain what you were saying regarding my comment, but I was simply questioning whether or not the story is accurate. I understand the subject of the story believes the drugs caused him to be transgendered, but I, personally, suspect that is not the case.

It's similar to the "I was made gay because a man molested me as a child" belief that some people have. I have a hard time believing that. I tend to believe the person would have been gay regardless. Or maybe they are bisexual, but the abuse closed off their ability to be with one gender.

But I can't speak for them. I would never tell them they are wrong because ultimately, I do NOT know if they are wrong. Perhaps some people are gay or transgendered by an outside force.

And ultimately, it shouldn't matter if we are gay or transgendered by genetics or environment. We shouldn't be condemned either way.

Anyway, those are just my random thoughts on the subject and that's what I meant.

[mejusthavingfun]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:36pm

I was speaking to your comment. I mentioned that case study because it shows that (maybe this isn't always the case) giving one twin drugs and forcing a gender reassignment did not prompt a swap in gender identity in the twin. Born a male, raised a female and given estrogen did not a female make.

So like you I read this article with some skepticism. I find it fascinating that drugs could permanently alter someone's gender identity.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 1:39pm

This came from my lesbian co-worker, so no hatin'! When she saw the picture of the him before the surgery she said, "Yeah, right, like she wasn't into girls back then!"

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 8/12/08 at 2:02pm

Well, as a Texan, I grew up around plenty of straight women who looked pretty butch, but I also thought the same thing: He was either a lesbian or a straight man to begin with.