East German athlete claims steroids made her a man

A former East German shot putter has claimed she had to undergo a sex-change operation as a result of steroids she took in the 1980s. Heidi Krieger, who won the gold medal in the shot put at the 1986 European championship in Stuttgart, now lives in Berlin as Andreas Krieger.

Der Spiegel magazine said the athlete had laid charges against Dr Hans Joachim Wendler, her physician, claiming he supervised her taking large doses of male hormones. Krieger said the process began in 1982, when she was 16. She claimed to have developed facial hair and an Adams apple and to have suffered psychological problems. Earlier this year she underwent two operations to become a man.