Hallo
...ride his father's old bicycle and play soccer, tennis and volleyball.
Today, he is the world record-holder in the discus.
What happened in the 14 years since he won a cycling race for the district championship - how he was found, tested, schooled and molded into world-class form - tells a lot about a remarkable system for developing elite athletes. Schult wanted to play soccer when he joined a special sports school as a teen-ager, only to be directed into track and field after physical and medical evaluations.
It is this system that will likely make the German Democratic Republic -East Germany - one of the top three medal-winning countries in the Summer Olympics later this year in Seoul, South Korea. Success Breeds Fascination
How the system works in a country of fewer than 17 million people, roughly the population of New York State, and less than 42,000 square miles, about the size of Ohio, has fascinated sports officials elsewhere for nearly 20 years. For this is a nation not yet 39 years old, one that grew out of the devastation of war and turned to mass sport as an adhesive for a shattered national spirit and to help gain acceptance for a Government that was widely shunned for many years.
The system is organized, scientific, highly efficient and supported almost entirely by the Communist Government. It has brought the country recognition throughout the world, along with scores of Olympic medals and world records. Thousands of foreigners apply each year to enter the large National Sports University in Leipzig to study coaching or some aspect of sports medicine.
But along with the success have come suspicions, mostly by Westerners, that the process is fueled by performance-enhancing drugs and creates athletes dehumanized by a system that oversees their athletic development from childhood. Skepticism From Outside
Also, the cost of...
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