Manfred Höppner (16 April 1934 – 20 October 2023) was an East German physician who served as the

German Democratic Republic East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

's (

GDR 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 ...

) top sports doctor. He and Manfred Ewald, the GDR's minister of sport (1961–1988) and president of the country's Olympic committee from 1973 to 1990, are considered the architects of the GDR's state-sponsored system of the illicit use of

performance-enhancing drugs Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve at ...

, believed to account for the GDR's Olympic successes between 1972–1988. Höppner allegedly had ties to the East German secret police, 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 ...

. Born in

Weinböhla Weinböhla is a municipality in the district of Meißen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated 7 km east of Meißen, and 17 km northwest of Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city o ...

, Germany on 16 April 1934, he died on 20 October 2023, at the age of 89.

Doping scandal

On July 18, 2000, in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, Höppner and Ewald were convicted as accessories to the intentional bodily harm of athletes, including minors. Both received probation. During the trial, Höppner testified that they had received approval from the highest levels of government. However, unlike his colleague, Höppner expressed remorse in his role and told the court, "I beg those athletes who suffered ill health to accept my apologies."

References

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External links

Entry
at Britannica Online Encyclopedia (requires subscription) 1934 births 2023 deaths People from Meissen (district) Socialist Unity Party of Germany members East German physicians German sports physicians Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Sportspeople from Saxony {{Germany-sport-bio-stub Stasi informants