BONN, West Germany -- East German athletes have been training for years in a high-altitude simulator to increase performances, a high-ranking sports official says.
Rolf Donath, director of the Central Institute of the Sport Medical Service in East Germany, told the West German news agency DPA the underground simulator was built in 1966 in the village of Kienbaum outside East Berlin.
Training in low air pressure leads to an increase of red blood corpuscles, responsible for the transport of oxygen through the body. By this method, the performance of the athlete is supposedly improved.
Donath said the simulator consists of huge underground low-pressure chambers, where athletes train before events. It is not clear how much money East Germany has invested in the chambers.
In 1980, a chamber the size of a soccer field was added to the existing ones. The new chamber also included a running track and a basin for rowing practice.
Donath's disclosures were confirmed by former Olympic walking champion Peter Frenkel in an interview with a West German radio station, in which he described his success at the 1972 Munich Games.
'I practiced in the pressure chamber up to the competition, went to Munich in a sleeper, had lunch, went to the stadium, warmed up and returned first after 20 kilometers,' Frenkel said.
He improved what was then the existing Olympic record by three minutes.
'As early as 1979 we experimented with heights of around 4,000 meters when other nations were only at around 2,300 meters,' Donath told DPA.
The method did present problems.
'One of the athletes broke down with lung damage,' Donath said. 'But we had that under control rather quickly.'
A united-German team may compete in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Donath hinted the chambers, once a top secret in East German sports, may be made accessible to West German athletes.
'We will continue practicing the installation,' Donath said. 'But why shouldn't we include West German walkers or marathon runners there?'
