Germany awards compensation to ex-GDR victims

Germany has awarded compensation to athletes who were victims of former East Germany's doping programme, the country's Olympic sports body DOSB said. The DOSB said it had distributed a sum of nearly €2.9 million to 157 recognised claimants. Victims of...

Germany has awarded compensation to athletes who were victims of former East Germany's doping programme, the country's Olympic sports body DOSB said.

The DOSB said it had distributed a sum of nearly €2.9 million to 157 recognised claimants.

Victims of East Germany's doping programme say they unwittingly received drugs when they were children, causing them to suffer heart deformities and cancer, as well as other health problems.

In 2006, the DOSB agreed to pay the doping victims compensation after they threatened legal action when negotiations with drug firm Jenapharm fell through.

Jenapharm was once part of the East German pharmaceuticals industry and produced the steroids used to dope the athletes.

After reunification in 1990, investigators determined that some 600 athletes had once been part of East Germany's "supportive measures" programme, which involved involuntary doping.

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