Heidi Krieger: biography, achievements and interesting facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Famous in the 80s, German shot putter Heidi Krieger began turning into a man as a teenager. In the GDR team, she was mercilessly stuffed with steroids, which did their job flawlessly. At some point, the athlete lost her sense of reality. She did not understand which of the two sexes now belonged to her, and this fact drove her into a wild depression. Heidi Krieger even tried to commit suicide on this basis, but, having changed her mind, she realized that she just needed to adapt to the circumstances.

Early years

In 1966, on July 20, a girl named Krieger Heidi, a future weightlifter, was born. She participated in sports competitions from early childhood, demonstrating excellent results and numerous victories among her peers. So, she got into the teenage team of East Germany in the shot put. In addition, we note that in the 70s and 80s, all kinds of doping were practiced in German sports, which allowed the participants of the competition to win first places in the worldchampionships. The very young Heidi Krieger also fell under the hand. Subsequently, all this became a huge scandal on a global scale with subsequent litigation.

Main sensation

In 1986, a young 20-year-old athlete Krieger Heidi made a splash. She took gold at the European Women's Shot Put Championship. The victory opened before the girl, then still quite pretty and pretty, huge horizons. She was destined for world fame, numerous victories and universal recognition. But all this remained only a dream, because immediately after the championship, Krieger went to the hospital with severe back pain. Doctors forbade her to play sports in principle and, having improved her back he alth, she was discharged home.

Big evil caused by small pills

To say that after the conclusion of the doctors, Heidi Krieger was broken, is to say nothing. Sport was her life, a ticket to a happy future and just a dream that was shattered in an instant. For a long time, the girl was discouraged, practically did not go out into the street and kept thinking about what to do next. At that moment, Heidi could not imagine that in fact her situation was much worse.

After some time, the former athlete began to leave her home. It was then that she began to notice that she was becoming like a man. On the street, passers-by looked askance at her, because they thought that a man was walking, putting on women's clothes. In the ladies' restrooms, she is often politelyhinted that she had the wrong door. Yes, what is there to darken - Heidi herself felt how a man literally "bulges" out of her over the edges. It was easy to guess that at the age of 20, when the body was fully formed, steroids and male hormones, which the athlete regularly used in her youth, showed themselves in all their glory. Heidi Krieger is simply lost. She did not recognize herself in the mirror and did not understand whether she was a man or a woman.

The consequences were severe

The former athlete, once a beautiful and charming girl, was depressed for almost 11 years. Repeatedly she tried to die, because she did not see her future at all. During this period, a whole series of incredibly high-profile scandals swept the world. Coaches of the GDR national teams who worked in the 80s were accused of knowingly causing irreparable harm to underage athletes. As it turned out, Heidi was far from the only victim of doping violence - their number was in the hundreds. As a result, the perpetrators were punished to the fullest extent, and on the Internet, which was only gaining popularity among the general population in the 90s, the first “before and after” photos of Heidi Krieger, which she took herself, appeared.

Starting a new life

Having experienced the biggest tragedy of her life, Heidi found the strength to continue the fight. In 1997, she was one of the first affected athletes to undergo sex reassignment surgery. In the case of Krieger, the doctors did not have to work for a long time - all the most important things were done for themhormones that the girl took as a teenager. Going through the rehabilitation period, Heidi understood that she could no longer bear this name, that it no longer just did not suit her, but also reminded of all the hardships that had befallen her. Therefore, in the same 1997, a new 31-year-old young man officially appeared in Germany - Andreas Krueger.

What happened next

A few years after the operation, Andreas began to get to know his "colleagues in grief" - athletes who also suffered from voluntary-compulsory doping. Among them was a former swimmer named Uta Krause, who, fortunately for her own sake, did not suffer from steroids as globally as many others. She managed to maintain her feminine appearance, in fact, and captivated Andreas Kruger. Soon the athletes got engaged, later they had an adopted daughter. The happy family has been living in the German city of Magdeburg in their own house for almost twenty years. The main activity of former athletes is the sale of equipment for tourists and military uniforms.

In memory of the past

Long legal proceedings on the case of intentional harm to the he alth of underage athletes did not go unnoticed. In addition to the fact that all the perpetrators of this crime were punished, a certain anti-doping committee was created in Germany. Its members were injured former athletes, journalists who understood thisbusiness, and volunteers. The committee was named after Heidi Krieger, the girl who suffered the most. As a reward, all project participants were given personalized medals minted in honor of the once talented and very beautiful female athlete.

Now Heidi-Andreas Krieger tries not to think about his difficult past. Everything that reminds him of past merits and an old name is a medal named after him. He keeps it, like all members of the anti-doping club. In a few interviews, Andreas reports that he is completely happy in his life together with his wife and daughter. He also enjoys new commercial activities.