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Kirkus Book Review

In 1968, East Germany (GDR) won nine Olympic gold medals--and raised their score to 20 in 1972 and 40 in 1976. This explosion of sports prowess gave rise to Western fears of a ""miracle machine"" that, on a per capita basis, produced 15 times as many gold medalists as the U.S. Gilbert, a Canadian journalist, has tried to counter the charges of Frankenstein use of drugs, anabolic steroids, and assembly-line techniques by giving an overview of the whole East German sports establishment. It's a useful criticism of Western attitudes toward sport, but too uncritical in its acceptance of the GDR position to allay suspicions abroad. When Gilbert interviews Kornelia Ender seven months after her retirement and she ""has lost fourteen pounds and changed her appearance completely""--to the extent that he doesn't recognize her--he is satisfied with the explanation that the ""down-training"" phase given to the retired elite is solely responsible; some might at least suspect the effects of going off steroids. But the progress made at the Leipzig College of Physical Culture is remarkable: sophisticated metabolic studies, analysis of glycogen in the muscles, the measurement of lactic acid build-up in the muscles, plus Stimul One--a Soviet electrical stimulation technique with which the Germans produced 50 percent increase in strength in two weeks. But the major emphasis is on the social structure of sport--16 percent of the population is active in sports clubs. For the elite, special schools provide expert coaching, equipment, and care. There is no ""peer pressure of falling behind,"" it's claimed, because athletes can finish their education and training when their playing days are over; they must only meet expectations, moreover: if they lose it's the planner's fault. Gilbert makes it all sound wonderful and suggests an umbrella ""National Sports Association"" for the U.S. to gain the kind of total involvement the GDR has--but he never questions the system in which ""what cannot be detected cannot be considered against the rules. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.