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A triumph of human will against all odds.
A world away from her wartorn country of Ukraine, Yaroslava Mahuchikh thrilled the crowd on her way to setting a WL of 2 metres in the high jump (Kipkeinoclassic, Saturday May 13 2023).
Game recognize game.
A moment of conviviality between John Carlos and Charles Asati who was part of the quartet that won 4×400m relay gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics (Safari Park Hotel, May 12 2023).
John Carlos he of the Mexico podium protest was in town for the 4th edition of the Absa KipKeinoClassic. Carlos who last visited in the 1970s, reminisced especially on his friendship with Ben Jipcho who passed away in 2020. Carlos remembered the 1972 Olympic silver medalist in the 3000 metres steeplechase as an inquisitive and cultured man with whom he enjoyed an easy rapport.
Peter Norman, Tommie Smith, and John Carlos (medal ceremony for the 200m, 1968 Mexico Olympic Games in Mexico City.
The athletes were mere pawns of a system.
Heidi Krieger, the 1986 European women's shot put champion and victim of a systematic performance enhancing programme.
A lot has been said of the seemingly unbreakable women's 400 metre and 800 metre world records, records which were set by Eastern bloc athletes some of whom like shot putter Heidi Krieger fessed up to being systematically fed anabolic steroids by East German officials from the age of 16.
In fact, as early as the age of 18, Krieger began developing visibly male characteristics. Eventually, years of enforced doping with what coaches claimed were "vitamins" left Heidi with little choice but to undergo gender reassignment surgery in 1997 because steroids had literally turned Heidi into a man.
Heidi Krieger now Andreas after gender reassignment surgery.
And while some East German athletes are on record as having complained to their handlers that they weren't receiving the latest in steroid enhancers, the very fact that the Stasi or the dreaded Ministry for State Security kept meticulous records on which athletes in the former East Germany were taking steroids and which steroids they were taking, shows you that this was not just a state sponsored programme, but that threats may have been held over athletes to keep them complaint with various performance enhancing programmes.