Boycott of the 1984 Olympic Games - Reactions of the deceived East German athletes
Four decades ago, the National Olympic Committee (NOC) made the decision to boycott the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, mirroring the USSR's response to the Western boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games.
The NOC expressed its reasoning as follows: "The continuous political meddling of the US administration in the preparation of the Olympic Games and the recurring breaches of the Olympic Charter by the organizers have long posed significant threats to our athletes' participation in the competitions under fair, honest, and equal sporting conditions."
Back in 1983, Heßlich, a track and field athlete who currently owns a bike store in Cottbus, recalled their experiences in America. He stated, "We were in America in 1983. We were safe. We were also in LA for a national competition a year before the Games. I beat Evelyn Ashford, who was a superstar at the time. They skipped the award ceremony."
Neues Deutschland, the SED's central organ, quoted Heßlich on May 12, 1984: "The USA's non-compliance with the Olympic Charter prevented many athletes from participating in the Olympics and potentially winning a gold medal."
Now, Heßlich reflects on this: "A straight-up lie! It was all fabricated. I complained all the way to the district secretary. He said I could modify the quote, but then my career would be finished. But I wanted to become an Olympic champion again after 1980." He managed to achieve his goal in 1988.
The trio discovered the boycott while Heßlich was participating in a competition in Tbilisi. "The Americans informed us there, but I couldn't believe it. I then set a world record in the 200-meter flying race and won the sprint over Michael Hübner." Hübner, like Heßlich, was from the GDR.
What about the later LA Olympic champion Mark Gorski (64)? He only came in third. Heßlich: "I had a perfect winning streak from 1983 to 1985. I was certainly robbed of gold. I was clearly better than the American."
Drechsler and Göhr were training in Jena when they learned about the boycott. "The club chairman told us during practice," remembered Drechsler, who still went by her maiden name of Daute at the time. "The people in power knew about it long beforehand and led us athletes around like puppets. An official came as early as February and said that we were boycotting because we were supposedly training too little."
Göhr: "1984 was my strongest year. We didn't find out about the boycott for a long time." The 'compensation': "We were allowed to participate in the friendship competitions in Prague, but the men had to go to Moscow. That was the next one..."
Does she believe she was cheated out of gold? "Yes, cheated out of the Olympics, but not out of gold. Evelyn was already quite strong, which would have been difficult for me. She beat me shortly after the Olympics in Zurich with a world record." Fairly, the Thuringian says, "But watching the final on TV at home was really senseless."
And Drechsler? "I had become world champion in 1983 and Romania went to Los Angeles with my main rival Anisoara Stanciu. She won. My advantage was that I was young. However, my dream of the Olympics was shattered."
Only two Olympic victories followed for a unified Germany: 1992 in Barcelona and 2000 in Sydney. Just three days after the boycott announcement, she achieved something remarkable. In Jena, Drechsler jumped a GDR record of 7.29 meters.
Drechsler: "There was a lot of anger in that jump. In addition to the disappointment, there was likely repression. Not participating was dumb. The Olympics was my dream, and missing out on it was painful."
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Source: symclub.org
