Andreas Berger (athlete)

Andreas Berger (born June 9, 1961 in Gmunden ) is a former Austrian athlete .

Life

In 1987 and 1988 Andreas Berger took fourth place at the European Indoor Championships (200 m), in 1987 and 1989 he was a semi-finalist at the World Championships. In 1988 he took part in the Olympic Games , where he reached ranks 17 (100 m) and 36 (200 m). In 1989 he reached the semifinals of the indoor world championships and his greatest international success: At the Grand Prix meeting in New Delhi (India) he won the 100-meter run , defeating the great Carl Lewis among others . In 1989 he was also European indoor champion (60 m). At the Olympic Games in 1992 he finished 7th in the 4 x 100 meter relay together with Franz Ratzenberger , Thomas Renner and Christoph Pöstinger ; in the 100-meter run he caused two false starts and was disqualified.

Berger is still the ÖLV record holder over 100 meters (10.15 s / August 15, 1988 in Linz ). At the beginning of 1993 Berger's performance suddenly increased and he managed to equalize his record.

doping

On July 26, 1993 he was convicted of doping with Metandienon in the run-up to the World Championships in Stuttgart .

Two days later, Berger made an ORF interview in front of hundreds of thousands of TV viewers:

“We want to put an end to the game; there are four positive doping cases. "

He and his comrades Franz Ratzenberger, Thomas Renner and Gernot Kellermayr , who were also caught by the IAAF inspector, had decided to forego the cross- check they were entitled to. This was a full admission of the allegations with full awareness of the consequences.

Berger was then banned from the Austrian association for four years. He then took legal action against this decision at the Regional Court for Civil Laws in Vienna, with which he was successful (decision of February 21, 1996), "because the ban imposed in several ways violates fundamental principles of the Austrian legal system," as the judgment said .

On September 5, 1998, Andreas Berger competed in the Jedermann Decathlon in Linz, the first 100-meter sprint since the end of his doping ban. The 37-year-old from Upper Austria did not come in second in 11.85 s behind the 400 meter specialist Thomas Ganger (11.57 s).

Berger caused a sensation with his statement on the sudden death of US sprinter Florence Griffith-Joyner :

“In today's portrayal, high-performance sport is basically not healthy, but I still see a certain double standard. I was also torn when I heard the news. My wife said be glad they caught you. I can only agree with her. "

In a newspaper interview in August 2006, he stated:

“It is always said that 99 percent is clean and one percent is doping. I claim it is the other way around. "

“I'm in the great situation that I'm the only one who can honestly talk about doping. Yes i would do it again With what I know today, I would do it smarter so that I don't get caught anymore. […] The mistake of my life was not doping, but smoking. I stopped in 2004. "

Life after exercise

Berger took part in the ORF soccer show “ Das Match ”, but had to give up due to an injury. Instead of him, the replacement candidate Julian Khol followed in the Austrian celebrity team.

Berger is now sales manager at Inmotiotec and the organizer of the Redbull400 , a 400 meter race on the ski jump in Bischofshofen.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Best list 1998 ÖLV ( Memento of the original from November 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 384 kB) 
2. ↑ Jedermann decathlon 1998 results report on unart.co.at (PDF; 116 kB)
3. ^ OÖN newspaper archive - August 1, 2006 - LINZ. Tour de France winner Floyd Landis and 100 m Olympic champion Just… - (ID: ooen / j2006 / q3 / m08 / t01 / ph / s013 / 005_001.dcs)