New evidence allegedly showing that as many as 10,000 East German competitors were given banned drugs in a policy of systematic doping conducted by the former Communist state could be used as important proof by British competitors seeking Olympic medals they claim they were cheated out of.
The figure was obtained by a German historian, Giselher Spitzer, who gained access to documents listing athletes, coaches and doctors involved in the state-run programme.
The documents examined by Spitzer, which also listed the doses to be administrated to each athlete, were thought to have been destroyed by the the secret police, the Stasi, when the Berlin Wall fell nine years ago. According to Spitzler's research, some 600 athletes were still registered in the doping programme in 1989.
Previously, up to 2,000 athletes were involved every year. The new findings are to be passed to a special Berlin-based police task force set up to investigate crimes perpetrated in the former German Democratic Republic.
Last week they seized videotapes and files which allegedly show swimmers as young as 11 being force-fed and injected with banned performance-enhancing drugs. The swimmers and their parents were told they were vitamins.
Four former East German swimming coaches and two sports doctors have been charged recently with giving banned substances to minors. The Berlin prosecutors are handling a total of 90 cases and more charges against trainers, doctors and sports officials are sure to follow.
The International Olympic Committee are due to discuss this latest evidence when they meet in Japan later this month. Sharron Davies, who finished second to East Germany's Petra Schneider in the 400 metres medley in Moscow 18 years ago, is among these hoping they will strip East German athletes proved to have taken drugs of their Olympic medals.
"All my career I was swimming against Eastern bloc swimmers who were on a drug programme devised for them from above," Davies said. "How can world records or medals that were set or won stay in place now the truth is known?"
Spitzer's findings will cast a further shadow over the World Swimming Championships, which start in earnest in Perth today. They are already under a drugs cloud after Chinese swimmer Yuan Yuan was caught last Thursday allegedly trying to smuggle banned human growth hormones into Australia.
She and her coach Zhou Zhewen both face a mandatory four-year ban for trafficking of growth hormones, sophisticated muscle-building drugs which are impossible to detect. The pair also face fines of up to £15,000 for bringing the hormones into Australia without official permission.
In the stormy waters of Perth yesterday the indomitable Russian endurance swimmer Alexi Akatiev defied the world's best to win the men's 25-kilometre open race, adding to his gold medal in the five-kilometre race on Wednesday. Akatiev took charge about three kilometres from the finish to beat David Meca of Spain, with Argentina's Gabriel Chaillou third.
The United States also claimed a double gold when Tobie Smith followed up team-mate Erica Rose's victory in Wednesday's five-kilometre race, to capture the women's 25-kilometre race from Peggy Buchse of Germany and Edith van Dijk of the Netherlands.
Italy won the team gold medal on points from Australia and the United States.
Meanwhile in the pool, Yugoslavia clinched a bloody 11-10 victory over reigning world champions Italy with a goal 10 seconds from time in a pulsating men's water polo match.
The former double Olympic and world champions finished second in Group B behind European champions Hungary, who walloped Iran 162.
Yugoslavia benefited from playing with an extra man after Italy lost Leonardo Sottani for a brutality foul with four and a half minutes left in the final period.
Sottani punched Dusan Popovic opening a gash about the centre-forward's left eye and forcing him to seek medical attention.
Tensions simmered in the stands with fights breaking out among supporters and police needing to escort fans from the venue.
China's Shan Ying, the world's number one in the 100 metres' freestyle, whose coach Zhou Zhewen is being sent home for attempting to bring in illegal human growth hormones, only qualified for the World Championship final with the fourth fastest time in Perth this morning.Susan Rolph gave Britain a dream start at the championships when qualifying for the final. The 19-yearold reached the final later today with the seventh fastest time.
