Andreas Krieger (born 20 July 1965) is a German former

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

ter who competed in the 1980s on the women's

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

team at

SC Dynamo Berlin The Sports Club Dynamo Berlin was an East German sports club that existed from 1954 to 1991. It was the largest sports club of SV Dynamo, the sports association of the security agencies. The club was reformed after German reunification and succe ...

as Heidi Krieger. Starting at age 16, he was systematically and unknowingly doped with

anabolic steroids Anabolic steroids, also known as anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS), are a class of drugs that are structurally related to testosterone, the main male sex hormone, and produce effects by binding to the androgen receptor (AR). Anabolic steroids ...

for years by East German officials, causing his body to become more masculine. In the 1990s Krieger came out as a

trans man A trans man or transgender man is a man who was assigned female at birth. Trans men have a male gender identity, and many trans men undergo medical and social transition to alter their appearance in a way that aligns with their gender identi ...

and underwent gender affirmation surgery. Krieger says that, while he did experience uncertainty about his sexual identity before being doped, he felt that the doping abuses "killed Heidi."

Athletics career

At the

1986 European Championships in Athletics The 14th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 to 31 August 1986 at the Neckarstadion, now known as MHPArena, in Stuttgart, a city in West Germany. Contemporaneous reports were given in the Glasgow Herald. Men' ...

, Krieger won the gold medal in the shot put event after putting the shot at 21.10 m (69 ft 3 in). Krieger retired in 1991.

Doping

Krieger was systematically doped with steroids from the age of 16 onward. According to

Werner Franke Werner Wilhelm Franke (31 January 1940 – 14 November 2022) was a German biologist and a professor of cell and molecular biology at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. He was an anti-doping pioneer in Germany. Life Franke was bor ...

and Brigitte Berendonk's 1991 book, ''Doping: From Research to Deceit'', Krieger took almost 2,600 milligrams of steroids in 1986; nearly 1,000 milligrams more than Ben Johnson took during the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

. As early as the age of 18, Krieger began developing visibly male characteristics. Eventually, years of doping left him with many masculine traits. By 1997, at the age of 31, Krieger underwent

sex reassignment surgery Gender-affirming surgery (GAS) is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their gender identity. The phrase is most often associat ...

and changed his name to Andreas. Krieger had "felt out of place and longed in some vague way to be a boy", and said in a 2004 interview in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' that he was "glad that he became a man". However, he felt that receiving hormones without his consent deprived him of the right to "find out for myself which sex I wanted to be." Krieger's sex change operation dominated Germany's news headlines and focused widespread attention on the legacy of

doping in East Germany The government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) conducted a decades-long program of coercive administration and distribution of performance-enhancing drugs, initially testosterone, later mainly anabolic drugs, to its elite athletes. The a ...

, leading other former athletes to speak out in public for the first time. Krieger gave evidence at the trial of Manfred Ewald, leader of the East German sports programme and president of the East German Olympic committee and Manfred Höppner, East German medical director in Berlin in 2000. Both Ewald and Höppner were convicted of accessory to the "intentional bodily harm of athletes, including minors". Krieger was forced to retire in part due to experiencing severe pain from lifting massive amounts of weight while on steroids. Even today, he has severe pain in his hips and thighs, and can only withstand mild exertion. The Heidi Krieger Medal (), named after Krieger, is now awarded annually to Germans who combat doping. Krieger's gold medal from 1986 forms part of the trophy.

Personal life

Krieger is married to former East German swimmer

Ute Krause Ute or UTE may refer to: * Ute people, a Native American people of the Great Basin * Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation, Utah * Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah * Southern Ute Indian Tribe of the Southern Ut ...

, who was also a victim of massive doping by East German sports officials.

Broadcasting

The

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series ''

Secrets of the Dead ''Secrets of the Dead'', produced by WNET 13 New York, is an ongoing PBS television series which began in 2000. The show generally follows an investigator or team of investigators exploring what modern science can tell viewers about some of t ...

'' featured Krieger in an episode covering the doping of East German athletes by the

government covered-up by the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

. In 2008 Ukrainian filmmakers released the documentary ''Doping. Factory of Champions'' based on Krieger's story. Krieger's story was mentioned in the first episode of the BBC documentary '' The Lost World of Communism''. Krieger's half-sister through his father's second marriage, Susann Krieger, won the Deutsche Radiopreis 2017 (German Radio Prize) for her feature ''Gedoptes Gold – Wie aus Heidi Andreas wurde'' ("''Doped Gold – how Heidi became Andreas''"), about her brother's life and her reunion with him.

Notes

References

* *

External links

*

''Secrets of the Dead'' episode
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krieger, Andreas 1965 births Living people Doping cases in athletics East German female shot putters German transgender sportspeople German transgender men Transgender sportsmen LGBTQ track and field athletes European Athletics Championships medalists 21st-century German LGBTQ people 20th-century German LGBTQ people Athletes from East Berlin