More news emerges this week about those lovable East German sports authorities where another batch of former champions have been discredited by the release of Stasi files showing that they were fed a diet of drugs.
Evelyn Jahl, Udo Beyer, Wolfgang Schmidt, Anita Weiss, Frank Baumgartl and Frank Cierpinski were among those named in the latest releases, which come at a time when several of the country's most prominent former sports coaches are standing trial for their involvement in doping scandals.
The naming of Jahl, though, will prove particularly embarrassing to the international sports authorities as the double Olympic discus champion went on, after retiring from competition in 1990, to sit on the IAAF's arbitration panel. Its brief? You guessed it, it deals with suspected drug offences.
Meanwhile, Jahl's former teammate, Heidi Krieger, has filed charges against her former doctor, claiming that the hormone treatment she undertook from the time she was 16 had such a profound effect upon her body that she felt, in the end, that a sex change operation was inevitable.
Krieger, now called Andreas, gradually developed a range of masculine features, including facial hair and an Adam's apple and suffered from severe psychological problems over the years.
She had two operations earlier this year to complete the transformation from woman to man and is now hoping that her case will lead to Dr Jans Joachim Wendler being punished for his part in the notorious Sate Plan 14.25.
Many non-athletes are turning to the same hormones abused by sportspeople in the hope of achieving better health and longer lives.
A growing number of doctors in Britain are prepared to prescribe cocktails of hormones to patients willing to risk the, as yet unquantified, additional risks of cancer in order to obtain such promised benefits as better memory, improved libido, reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease and longer life.
Tests on the various drugs are taking place in a number of hospitals around England, but many people are not waiting around for the results, with thousands willing to pay substantial sums to sign up now, most of them apparently content that the treatments are having the desired effect.
Eddie Pinn, for example, is a 70-year-old retired jeweller from Dulwich who, since starting on a course of testosterone, melatonin and dehydroepiandrosterone (at a total of cost of £7,500 per annum), has taken to cruising resorts around the world in search of fun and romance.
"I feel about 45," says Eddie, who adds that, "I'm full of energy, I have better muscle tone and my sex drive is unbelievable. If I don't make 130 I want my money back."
And our final mention of drugs in sport for this week regards the failure by a more recent Olympic champion, Paolo Pezzo, of a drug test.
The Italian, who won the women's cross country mountain biking event in Atlanta and the World Championship title in 1993, tested positive for Nandrolene at a race in Annecy, in France, on September 6th of last year.
Her manager is contesting the results on the basis that a test carried out a week earlier in Belgium proved negative, but it is still likely that Pezzo will have a six to 12 month ban imposed.
Mike Tyson, banned from boxing for biting off parts of Evander Holyfield's ear, could be back in the ring next year - as a referee in "Wrestlemania XIV".
The World Wrestling Federation has revealed that it is negotiating with promoter Don King for Tyson to appear in the March 29th event in Boston.
"Mike wants to box again and Don wants to make money," Tyson associate Steve Lott told the New York Daily News. "I can't believe he (King) would jeopardise Mike's chances of getting his boxing licence back."
It is not, however, the fighter's first involvement with the socalled sport. The former heavyweight champion was scheduled to referee a wrestling match in 1990, but was replaced by Buster Douglas after he took the title from Tyson.
Zambian boxer Felix Bwalya became the sport's latest fatality last week, two weeks after he beat Paul Burke for the Commonwealth light welterweight title in a controversial points decision.
Bwalya, who was on medication for malaria before the contest, was knocked down once and saved by the final bell when he appeared to be under severe pressure, but felt well enough afterwards to go out celebrating with friends and members of his family.
It was the celebration that proved disastrous for the young fighter for, after two solid days of drinking, he collapsed and was rushed to hospital where he slipped into a coma from which he never emerged.
Congratulations to the Irish Winter Olympic team, who have struck a major psychological blow ahead of their participation in Nagano by drawing the highestranked sumo wrestler available for the opening ceremony.
Organisers of the extravaganza decided to allocate one wrestler to each nation in the opening ceremony, with certain ones being preselected to accompany the Japanese, American and Greek teams.
The rest were drawn by lots and the Irish were first out of the hat, with the result that the man carrying our country's name around on a placard with be none other than Takanonami - one of the few Ozekis (champions) involved in the lottery.
The wrestlers will wear only sashes and ceremonial aprons for the ceremony, which takes place on February 7th and which is expected to last for three to four hours. The temperature will almost certainly be several degrees below zero throughout.
Loved and loathed in his native Germany, Boris Becker was the subject of a special tribute by the country's sports channel Deut- sches Sportfernsehen recently to mark his 30th birthday.
The station broadcast 11 hours of highlights from the former world number one's career, as well as excerpts from interviews and various news items about him. Only once did the station break from the special in more than 14 hours, and that was to show a match live from the women's Masters tournament in the US.
If the English FA Cup is supposed to be important to the very big clubs, then it is, one suspects, even more crucial to the minnows for whom it represents an opportunity to make their name and to earn a few bob by drawing one of the top Premiership outfits.
Strange then that Reading's management team - with a game against non-league outfit Cheltenham Town coming up - opted to ask Reading Evening Post journalists Clive Baskerville to go on a scouting mission to a recent Town midweek match.
Baskerville agreed to undertake the task, although he admitted afterwards that having to record all of Cheltenham's set-piece routines and analyse their strengths and weaknesses in open play proved more difficult than he had anticipated.
Still, what else could Terry Bullivant and the rest of his backroom staff do but rely on the journalist's best efforts? The Cheltenham game was, after all, the night of the Reading FC Christmas party.
Condolences to Full Of Vodka whose name seemed to mark it out as a dead cert to win the Hangover Maiden Hurdle at Fairyhouse on New Year's Day. Still, sixth of 15 probably captured the spirit of the day-afterthe-night-before a little more appropriately than a runaway victory ever could.
Scottish rugby club Carrick have been temporarily suspended from action after one of their games had to be abandoned by referee Doug McKenzie due to the growing threat of serious violence between the players.
The match, against Birkmyre, was already fairly tense when a Carrick player blew a kiss at one of his opponents. The referee spotted the gesture, though, and despite claims that he was overreacting, directed both sets of players to the dressing-rooms.
Carrick officials subsequently complained to the SRU about McKenzie's decision, but the Union backed the referee and decided to suspend the club.
While 11 year-old Haider Jamal Zafar from Pakistan was scheduled to become the youngest ever participant in the British Junior Open squash championships yesterday, Welsh pensioner Agnes Davies was showing that competitive sport isn't the exclusive preserve of the young.
Sixty years ago, Agnes picked up her first major snooker title - the Welsh Open - and now, at the age of 77, she's back looking to win the crown again.
In the early part of her career, Davies, who wasn't allowed into many venues because of bans on women, also won the English Open and has dipped her toe back into the sport with considerable success over the years, most notably in 1980 when she was beaten by Australian Lesley McKilroy in the World Championship final.
Her motives these days are not entirely competitive, with the pensioner remarking that the sport is "very good therapy. There's lots of bending, moving your arms and your eyes, and you have to move your mind a lot. I think it would do a lot of ladies good. It's very relaxing."
Nevertheless come January 24th in Cwmbran, she says she'll still be playing to win.
Please send any correspondence to On The Sidelines, Sports Dept, The Irish Times, 11-15 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail emalone@irish-times.ie
