Sharron's incredible. Here she talks of Petra Schneider - given testosterone by her DDR coaches as a young teen, and left with serious health problems and yes - a gold medal.
''She said she was put on a doping program at age 14 and originally told that they were just little blue pills,'' Davies said of Schneider. ''She then knew changes were taking place in her body, and by the time she was 16 or 17, she was aware that she was taking something illegal but by that time she was worried that if she rejected it, her father might lose his job or something. That's the very sad part of this. It wasn't a simple, straightforward thing.''
Davies added: ''Both Petra and Rica Reinisch have heart problems, and all the side effects that are apparent with steroid abuse. But the fact is they had very little choice. If I had been in East Germany at that time, I could have been one of those people, too. But I do think the I.O.C. should be held fairly accountable that more was not done at the time. It's not like this is all a surprise. The East Germans were dominating out of all proportion. It was obvious to everyone what was going on.''
''Petra has been told at the age of 35 that she could die of a heart attack at any moment,'' Davies said, ''and she has an 8-year-old girl.''