Shirley Babashoff's Sports Injuries

Hi, What a wonderful honor. It's so strange how we can get together after all these years and feel like we just saw each other last week, but that's the way it is when you're an Olympian. Thank you so much for this recognition and for inducting this Relay Team into the Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame. Wendy, Jill, Jennifer, and of course Kim, who we lost way too soon and is now in heaven as an angel, and myself truly accomplished something extraordinary at the 1976 Olympics by beating the East German team, who everyone now knows was cheating by administering anabolic steroids. As the United States team trained and worked hard with our coaches, teammates, family, and friends, the East German team was being controlled by scientists and doctors. I learned early in life growing up with my two brothers that cheating was not only morally wrong but also a cowardly act to not be able to accept defeat. Now, as I speak to schools and groups, I have to tell them about how some people cheated in the Olympics and still get to keep their medals, which I think reinforces the use of steroids in schools. Not only did the East German team commit a transgression against the Olympic movement to destroy the spirit of the games, but steroid use is now prevalent in all sports and all ages of athletes. Perhaps if the East Germans were stripped of their medals, it would not seem like such a good idea for athletes coming up now to use steroids. All of the women swimmers in 1976 were shorted of all the heart and hard work they put in. Some women placed fourth and should have actually gotten a gold medal. How do you think that would change their life? They tell their children and grandchildren now, and it's a whole explanation of how we medaled and why we only got what we got. People always feel bad for the cheaters, saying they were just young women given these steroids by doctors and scientists and didn't know what was going on. I guess they didn't look at other people their age. But the people that did put in the work, like these girls here and the whole team in 1976, where is their sacrifice? Where is their award for all the sacrifice they made? There are many more who didn't cheat in those Olympics. So we want to dedicate this acknowledgment to our whole team, not just our relay team, but all the women on our team that swam in the 1976 Olympics. Thank you again for this most incredible recognition. This was one race steroids didn't win. With all that happened in 1976 and through the 70s and 80s, here we are with this incredible honor, and how humbled we are after 46 years to have this recognition. So thank you. Thank you.

Exclusive interview with Shirley Babashoff by SwimmingWorld.TV's Brent Rutemiller discussing the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

ABC's 20/20 investigates East Germany's state-sponsored doping program during the 1970s and 80s, which aimed to dominate Olympic sports by turning young athletes, notably women, into chemically enhanced competitors. This disturbing experiment secretly used children as young as 10 as test subjects, giving them performance-enhancing drugs without their knowledge. The program, known as State Plan 14.25, was hidden behind the Iron Curtain, with athletes believing they were taking vitamins. The steroids caused severe health issues, including hormonal imbalances and long-term damage. The story reveals how the East German government manipulated and controlled its athletes to achieve Olympic success, leading to devastating personal consequences. Despite passing drug tests, the athletes were systematically doped, a fact later confirmed by secret files. The program's masterminds faced trials, but received minimal punishment, leaving many victims struggling with ongoing health problems and a sense of betrayal.