Canadian Olympic chief wants further look at 1976 doping scandal

Rick Westhead

TSN Senior Correspondent

Follow| Archive

The head of the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) wants to hear more about how swimmers who were victims of a doping scandal during the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, her sister included, might be honoured with upgraded medals.

COC president Tricia Smith, a former Olympic rower who on Thursday was appointed as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), told TSN in an interview that she’d like details about how East German women who competed as steroid-fuelled swimmers in 1976 received compensation 30 years later from the German government.

The East German athletes involved in the doping program, central figures in one of the biggest scandals in Olympic history, received money for being victimized by their former country. Yet they have kept their Olympic medals.

“I’d like to speak to the athletes who were involved,” Tricia Smith said. “I am sure in many cases they didn’t have a lot of choice or were not aware.

“Doing something for the athletes [who were cheated] is an interesting idea... my sister's Olympic medal would be upgraded as would a number of my world championship medals. I have always thought it would be nice if it was at least acknowledged that our results were affected by the systemic doping at that time.”

In the days leading up to the 1976 Games, the staff of Canada’s swimming team predicted their female swimmers would win four gold medals before a home crowd. The East German women, however, coasted to 10 gold medals, six silvers and one bronze in the pool.

The host Canadian women came away with one silver and five bronze. One of those bronze medals was won by Tricia Smith’s sister, Shannon, in the 400-metre freestyle. East German Petra Thumer won gold in that event.

While none of the East Germans failed drug tests in Montreal, East German government records disclosed later revealed a state-sanctioned doping program.

Cheryl Gibson, who is now president of Swimming Canada, won a silver medal in the 400-metre individual medley, losing to East German Ulrike Tauber.

“I think it would be nice for people to be recognized for the achievements … but actually getting medals, taking them away from people and giving them to somebody else, I think only the East Germans can do that,” Gibson said in interview. “If they feel compelled that that would be an appropriate thing to do, that’s really up to them to do.”

Gibson said some of her former teammates were emotionally battered after the Montreal Games.

“There’s been articles written about how Canadians didn’t win a gold medal in ’76 and somehow it’s a reflection of the people who were competing that they didn’t try hard enough or they should have done more,” she said.

In 2005, 167 former East German women, swimmers included, went to court to seek compensation from the German Olympic Committee for being subjected to the doping. Two years later, in 2007, they received cash payments.

Even so, the IOC has refused to take action against the East German women, saying too much time has passed. IOC member Richard Pound said in an interview that the IOC Athletes’ Commission should ask the East German swimmers to return of their medals.

It’s unclear whether former U.S. Olympic hockey player Angela Ruggiero, who on Tuesday was appointed chair of the 15-member commission, will pursue the case. Ruggiero couldn’t be reached for comment.

Asked whether she would also consider supporting a move to bring justice to cheated Olympic swimmers, Hayley Wickenheiser, who is also a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, wrote in a Twitter post, “Hard to argue. Would be an incredible gesture given all we r facing.”

In a memoir published this summer, Shirley Babashoff, a former member of the U.S. Olympic swim team in Montreal, asked IOC president Thomas Bach to consider granting duplicate medals to the female swimmers who finished behind the East Germans in 1976. Babashoff won four silver medals and a relay gold in Montreal.

Shannon Smith, who won a bronze medal in Montreal, said she’d welcome further investigation.

“My belief is that those young women lived in a country where there was a lot of pressure to do well,” she said. I cannot believe that as a 15-year-old young woman that they had a choice… I feel a lot of sympathy for them. However, if it’s a fact that they were taking steroids, then yes they should give up their medal.”

She also said she doesn’t believe too much time has passed to deliver justice to those cheated out of medals.

“By going back and righting the wrongs in the past, it shows we are standing together and taking doping serious,” she said. “No matter when it happened, it has to be righted.”