Thomas Köhler (Luge Rider)

Thomas Koehler
Thomas Koehler (1968)
nation	German Democratic Republic
birthday	June 25, 1940
place of birth	Zwickau
size	171 cm
Weight	70 kg
Career
discipline	Single seater, double seater
society	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal
Trainer	Werner Geinitz
status	resigned
End of career	1968
Medal table
Olympic medals 2 × 1 × 0 × World Cup medals 3 × 1 × 0 × Junior European Championships 0 × 1 × 0 × GDR championship 8 × 2 × 1 ×
winter Olympics gold 1964 Innsbruck Single seater gold 1968 Grenoble Two-seater silver 1968 Grenoble Single seater  Luge World Championships gold 1962 Krynica-Zdrój Single seater silver 1965 Davos Two-seater gold 1967 Hammarstrand Single seater gold 1967 Hammarstrand Two-seater Junior European Championships silver 1958 Oberhof Single seater GDR Luge Championships silver 1960 Oberhof Single seater gold 1961 Friedrichroda Two-seater silver 1961 Friedrichroda Single seater gold 1963 Oberbärenburg Single seater gold 1963 Oberbärenburg Two-seater gold 1964 Friedrichroda Two-seater bronze 1964 Friedrichroda Single seater gold 1965 Oberhof Two-seater gold 1967 Oberhof Two-seater gold 1968 Friedrichroda Single seater gold 1968 Friedrichroda Two-seater
last change: November 24, 2013

Thomas Köhler (born June 25, 1940 in Zwickau ) is a former German luge rider who competed for SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal and for the GDR . With two Olympic victories ( 1964 in Innsbruck in singles and 1968 in Grenoble in doubles) and three world championship titles ( 1962 in Krynica-Zdrój and 1967 in Hammarstrand in singles and doubles) he was the most successful luge athlete of the 1960s. After the end of his active career as a competitive athlete, Köhler worked as a trainer and sports official. From 1968 to 1976 he was the head coach of the GDR national luge team and during this time he was responsible for the success of the athletes around Anna-Maria Müller , Dettlef Günther , Hans Rinn and Wolfgang Scheidel . In the hierarchy of top-class sport in the GDR, Köhler , who has a doctorate in sports science, was promoted to the German Gymnastics and Sports Federation , becoming its vice-president in 1980. As such, he was responsible for the performance sport responsible and instrumental in drug-assisted involved success of East German athletes. Köhler was a personal member of the National Olympic Committee of the GDR . At the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984 and in Calgary in 1988 , he was Chef de Mission of the GDR team.

Personal

Thomas Köhler grew up with his two siblings, including the younger brother Michael Köhler , in the Ore Mountains community of Beierfeld . Since the father Kurt Köhler died in World War II , the mother Roselene Köhler was a single parent. Kurt Köhler was one of the German high jump elite in the 1930s. After attending the Beierfeld elementary school, Köhler switched to the Bertolt Brecht Extended Secondary School in Schwarzenberg , where he graduated from high school in 1958. With a six-week reserve training course, he began to study physical education at the German University for Physical Culture in Leipzig (DHfK) in autumn 1958 . His studies were linked to training as a reserve officer in the National People's Army , which he received in the so-called sports club company and graduated in October 1961 with the officer examination in Plauen . From November 1, 1961, he was ranked second lieutenant in the reserve.

Although Thomas Köhler was a member of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany and is sometimes referred to as a member of the Volkskammer, he never belonged to the parliament of the GDR. His brother Michael, however, was a member of the People's Chamber for the FDJ during the 5th electoral period (1967–1971) .

Köhler has been married to his wife Irene , an author of several sports books and a former basketball player in the GDR national team , since 1963 , and has two children. He lives in Berlin-Pankow .

Career

Juniors

Thomas Köhler's sports career began in the B youth handball team from Wismut Beierfeld, where he later worked as a track and field athlete and gymnast in the club. In 1953 he was delegated to participate in the district tobogganing championships in Oberwiesenthal, where he came in last among 13 participants. In the following year he won three district championships at the same location, namely in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. At the pioneer championships held from February 4 to 7, 1954 on the old toboggan run on Tambacher Strasse in Oberhof , he and Heidi Schuffenhauer, who later became Ernst Scherzer's wife , took second place in the mixed doubles.

At the German Youth Championships in Oberhof on January 20, 1958, he took second place behind Klaus-Michael Bonsack . As a runner-up, he tobogganed for a place in the GDR national team. A week later he again took part in the 4th European Junior Championship in Oberhof, in which 65 athletes from eight countries took part, and achieved the runner-up title just three seconds behind Max Leo from Tegernsee .

In the fall of 1958 Köhler was one of the participants in the founding congress of the German Sled and Bobsleigh Association of the GDR. At the Junior European Championships in 1959 in Weißenbach near Liezen , Austria , he was without a medal. At the national level, Köhler was able to establish himself among top athletes that winter. At the junior championship in Oybin , Peter Weiß and Thomas Köhler took the first two places, which enabled them to start in the subsequent “real” championship. In this one, Köhler took 7th place overall due to a fall in the first run, although he set the best times in the three other runs. Peter Weiß, meanwhile, secured the title.

World champion and Olympic champion

Köhler's double partner Klaus-Michael Bonsack at the start of the GDR championships in 1969

Luge Olympic champion Ortrun Enderlein at the GDR championships in 1964

The 1960 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen took place because of the non-recognition of the GDR by the FRG as a result of the Hallstein Doctrine and the associated exclusion of GDR athletes without Thomas Köhler and the other tobogganists from the GDR. At the GDR championship in Oberhof at the beginning of February 1960 he finished second, over three seconds behind Dieter Eichel . In the following winter he was able to take part in the world championships for the first time in Girenbad, Switzerland , but these were disappointing for him. After a fall in the second run, he finished 27th in the victory of Poland's Jerzy Wojnar . At the national championships in Friedrichroda in 1961, he won the doubles title with Klaus-Michael Bonsack (Bonsack remained his doubles partner until Köhler's retirement) and the runner-up title in the singleseater behind Günter Schneider . The summer of 1961 resulted in a further deterioration in the starting conditions due to the political constellation. As a result of the construction of the Wall , the German NOK President Willi Daume announced on August 16 that all sports traffic between the GDR and the FRG would be suspended. A participation of the GDR athletes in international competitions within an all-German team remained possible.

With new training methods (including water tobogganing, high diving, parachuting), the 1961/62 season was prepared, which brought him the breakthrough to the top of the world. In January 1962, when he defeated Jerzy Wojnar in Krynica-Zdrój for the trophy of the Polish NOK , Köhler was able to win an international competition for the first time. With this victory he went as one of the favorites in the world championships, which were held a few days later on the same track . With a lead of 0.14 seconds over Wojnar, Thomas Köhler won the world championship on his home track. The triumph of the GDR tobogganists was completed by Ilse Geisler , who was able to secure the women's title. Because of a knee injury, he could not start in the 1962 GDR championship in Ilmenau, where Klaus-Michael Bonsack secured the title.

With the establishment of the sled racing section at SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal , in which his brother Michael Köhler, Klaus-Michael Bonsack, Ortrun Enderlein and Ilse Geisler trained, the training conditions were more centered in 1962 and the foundation for the successes that followed. In Oberwiesenthal at that time there was a natural toboggan run with only three curves, so that during training it was necessary to use the ski slopes on the Fichtelberg from time to time, until a strict tobogganing ban was imposed on ski slopes due to a few almost collisions with skiers. The following winter of 1962/1963 was marked by a serious fall in the first run in the race for the Polish NOK Cup in Krynica, in which he was carried off the track in a curve and thrown with his chin against a lamppost. He suffered a triple lower jaw fracture , a severe concussion and an injury to the spine . Due to these injuries, a start at the 1963 World Championships in Imst, to which he came with a jaw clamp as a spectator and assistant coach at the side of Werner Geinitz, was not possible. At the national championship in Oberbärenburg, however, a few weeks later he was able to secure the single-seater and doubles title with a five-second lead over his brother. It was not until January 1964 that Köhler started again in international races.

At the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck , where luge celebrated its Olympic premiere, Köhler was a member of a nine-person toboggan team, which consisted of six tobogganers from the GDR and three from the FRG, although Köhler was unable to take part in the all-German Olympic qualification. After four runs he won with a lead of 0.27 seconds over Klaus Bonsack in the single-seater, while the third-placed Hans Plenk was distanced with a deficit of 3.48 s. After his Olympic victory, Köhler himself emphasized that he had won the title for the GDR, even though he had to compete in an all-German team: “Despite the team we saw ourselves more as athletic opponents.” The two-seater competition was less successful for the duo Köhler / Bonsack. You retired with a crash in the first run of the race. At the closing ceremony, Thomas Köhler had the honor of being one of eight Olympic champions to carry the Olympic flag out of the stadium. At the following national championship in Friedrichroda, he won the title in doubles and the bronze medal in the individual race. In June 1964, Köhler, like Olympic luge champion Ortrun Enderlein, was honored with the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver for his successes .

Second Olympic victory and end of career

In the years that followed, the GDR squad dominated international luge events, which in the Munzinger archive is ascribed to the meticulousness and professionalism of the team. In the winter of 1965, Köhler and his partner Bonsack won the silver medal in the doubles at the world championships on February 6th and 7th in Davos, 0.83 seconds behind the world champions Wolfgang Scheidel and Michael Köhler ; in the single-seater, he finished 8th with over 10 seconds behind the victorious Hans Plenk . In the following GDR championship in Oberhof , he was successful in the double-seater. The 1966 Luge World Championships, which should have taken place on the Spießbergbahn in Friedrichroda, could not take place because of the foehn and the associated thaw; also no GDR championship was held.

At the 1967 World Championships in Hammarstrand , Köhler dominated with two titles. With a lead of 0.78 seconds over his doubles partner Bonsack, he won the single-seater title and together with him, 0.09 seconds ahead of the Austrian duo Manfred Schmid / Ewald Walch, also in the two-seater. At the GDR championship in 1967 in Oberhof, Köhler also won the national title in the two-seater. Because of the FRG's claim to sole representation and the dispute over the " Spalter flag ", the luge riders from the GDR could not start at the 1967 European Luge Championships at Königssee.

Köhler was active as an active speaker during his sporting career. On behalf of all GDR athletes, he spoke in April 1967 before the Seventh Party Congress of the SED for the Karl-Marx-Stadt district .

At the 1968 Olympic Games , where he was the flag bearer at the opening ceremony for the GDR team, which was competing independently for the first time at the Olympic Games on February 6, he won the two-seater together with Klaus-Michael Bonsack and was second in the single-seater behind Manfred Schmid. After the controversial disqualification of the women's team around Ortrun Enderlein and Anna-Maria Müller in the “Kufenskandal”, he became the honor savior of the GDR team. He is one of the most successful German participants in the Winter Olympics . According to allegations raised by Giselher Spitzer in 1999 , Köhler is said to have been “under the influence of anabolic steroids ” during his successes in 1968 .

In his last competitions before retiring from competitive sports, Köhler won the national titles in one and two-seater in Friedrichroda in 1968. For his "special services to increasing the international reputation of the GDR" at the Winter Olympics in Grenoble, he was again awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver in August 1968.

Trainer and sports official

Immediately after finishing his career as an active luge athlete, Köhler started a career as a coach and sports official on June 1, 1968. From 1968 to 1976 Thomas Köhler was the association trainer of the national team of the German Sled and Bobsleigh Association of the GDR. With his theoretical and practical knowledge, he contributed to the fact that this time was a particularly successful era for the GDR sled athletes. Already in his time as an athlete and research assistant at the faculty for sports methodology of the DHfK, Köhler wrote the manual sledging: a guide for beginners and trainers . After one year of non-scheduled aspirations , he became a Dr. in 1974 - under the supervision of Fritz Reichert , Wolfgang Gutewort and Horst Götze - with a thesis on selected problems to perfect the training methodology and equipment in racing sledding. paed. PhD . The dissertation defense took place on December 5, 1974. Technical changes during this time included the change from natural ice rinks to artificial ice rinks (the Oberhof luge track was the second artificially iceable toboggan run in the world that was built from 1969 to 1970 and was inaugurated in 1971 in order to offer the best possible training conditions for the upcoming major events) and the development from a seated to a more aerodynamically more favorable lying position Tobogganing without steering straps. The 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo , where the GDR athletes won all three wins (through Anna Maria Müller, Wolfgang Scheidel and the Horst Hörnlein / Reinhard Bredow doubles ) and a total of eight of the nine possible, are among the particularly successful major events of his time as association coach Won medals to be awarded, and the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck , where the GDR athletes won three victories (by Margit Schumann , Dettlef Günther and the double Hans Rinn / Norbert Hahn ) and a total of five medals. Similar success stories were achieved at the world championships in 1973 in Oberhof with three titles and a total of eight medals, 1974 at Königssee with two titles and a total of seven medals and in 1975 in Hammarstrand with three titles and a total of six medals.

In the 1976/1977 season, in which Jochen Danneberg won the Four Hills Tournament , Köhler became head of the GDR national team for the special jumping event . During this time Köhler attended the party college and became department head for winter sports of the German Gymnastics and Sports Association (DTSB) . He had been a member of the DTSB Presidium since 1970. In 1977 he was promoted to head of department for winter sports and finally in 1980 to the influential Vice President with responsibility for competitive sports and, from 1987, for winter sports. As head of the highest level III in the GDR sports system, Köhler was responsible for the entire area of ​​high-performance sports in the GDR and as such he played a key role in the doping-supported success of GDR athletes. Köhler was Chef de Mission of the GDR team at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984 and in Calgary in 1988 .

In August 1984 he was honored with the Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold and in November 1985 with the Golden Badge of Honor of the NOC of the GDR . In 1988 Köhler received the Gold Star of Friendship of Nations . For his services as a trainer and sports official, he was also awarded the Order of Labor Banner in 1974, 1976 and 1980 . Until 1990 he was a member of the National Olympic Committee of the GDR . He was considered the designated successor to DTSB President Manfred Ewald , who was succeeded by Klaus Eichler as DTSB President in 1988 . Köhler became Vice President for Science and Technical Development.

After the turn

Köhler's career as a sports official ended abruptly with the fall of the Berlin Wall and peaceful revolution in 1989/1990 . At the general assembly of the DTSB federal board held in Kienbaum on January 27 and 28, 1990 , at which Manfred Ewald, Klaus Eichler, Günter Erbach and Rudi Hellmann, among others , were excluded from the presidium, Köhler was appointed by his four other DTSB vice-presidents Tasks released.

From August 1990 to 1993, Köhler was managing director of SV IHW Alex 78 and then until 2005 marketing director of the Pfennigs Feinkostwerk delicatessen chain in Berlin.

Doping in the GDR and conviction

With a punishment he was in 1999 for aiding and abetting assault sentenced in 107 1977-1989 dated cases to a fine in the amount of 26,400 marks. In 2005 Köhler retired.

2010 Köhler was criticized by former East German athletes, having in his autobiography "Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. “The area-wide GDR state doping , also to minors, admitted, but at the same time justified this and in some cases relativized its extent and consequences. Koehler received encouragement from Thomas Bach , the then President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation . Bach welcomed the statements as they would bring more clarity to the processing of the doping history.

Publications

• Sledging: A guide for beginners and trainers. 1st edition. Sportverlag, Berlin, 1967, DNB 457246898 .
• Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. New life, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-355-01779-4 .

literature

• Klaus Ullrich : Gold from Innsbruck - sketches about two Olympic champions and their path: Ortrun Enderlein, Thomas Köhler. Society for the Promotion of the Olympic Thought in the German Democratic Republic, Berlin 1964, DNB 1019135069 .
• Volker Kluge : The great lexicon of GDR athletes. The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes and biographies. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-348-9 .
• Koehler, Thomas. In: Günter Weigel: A small chronicle of great athletes - Erzgebirge we are proud of. Rockstroh, Aue 2004, OCLC 315899314 , p. 74.
• Klaus Gallinat, Olaf W. Reimann:  Köhler, Thomas . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
• Thomas Köhler in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Web links

Commons : Thomas Köhler (Olympian)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Thomas Köhler in the catalog of the German National Library
• Thomas Köhler in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Ex-GDR sports official confirms nationwide doping , Der Spiegel , October 14, 2010
• GDR doping system, attempted clean washing , FAZ , September 15, 2010

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} New Germany . February 5, 1964, p. 8.
2. ↑ Notwithstanding this information, the places of birth Oberwiesenthal and Beierfeld can also be found in the literature .
3. ↑ Köhler, Thomas. In: Günter Weigel: Small chronicle of great athletes. Erzgebirge we are proud of. 2004, p. 74.
4. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 11 f.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Klaus Ullrich: Gold from Innsbruck. Sketches about two Olympic champions and their path: Ortrun Enderlein, Thomas Köhler. 1964, p. 14.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 17.
7. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 21.
8. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 21 f.
9. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 23.
10. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Klaus Gallinat, Olaf W. Reimann:  Köhler, Thomas . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
11. ↑ We always have the Olympics: The GDR sport before the summer games in Munich . In: Der Spiegel . No. 32 , 1972 ( online ).
12. ↑ ^{a b} Welt Online : Doping confession: GDR Olympic champion Thomas Köhler unpacks , accessed on December 2, 2013.
13. ^ Secretariat of the People's Chamber on behalf of the President of the People's Chamber of the GDR (Ed.): The People's Chamber of the German Democratic Republic: 5th electoral period. Staatsverlag der DDR, Berlin 1967, p. 369.
14. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 32.
15. ↑ ^{a b c} Klaus Ullrich: Gold from Innsbruck. Sketches about two Olympic champions and their path: Ortrun Enderlein, Thomas Köhler. 1964, p. 15.
16. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Thomas Köhler in the Munzinger archive , accessed on November 24, 2013 ( beginning of the article freely available)
17. ↑ ^{a b} Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 12.
18. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 13.
19. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 14.
20. ^ Klaus Ullrich: Gold from Innsbruck. Sketches about two Olympic champions and their path: Ortrun Enderlein, Thomas Köhler. 1964, p. 23.
21. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 16.
22. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 18.
23. ^ Klaus Ullrich: Gold from Innsbruck. Sketches about two Olympic champions and their path: Ortrun Enderlein, Thomas Köhler. 1964, p. 28 and p. 55.
24. ↑ New Germany. February 3, 1960, p. 6.
25. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 26.
26. ↑ ^{a b c} Klaus Ullrich: Gold from Innsbruck. Sketches about two Olympic champions and their path: Ortrun Enderlein, Thomas Köhler. 1964, p. 38.
27. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 27 f.
28. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 29.
29. ↑ ^{a b} Klaus Ullrich: Gold from Innsbruck. Sketches about two Olympic champions and their path: Ortrun Enderlein, Thomas Köhler. 1964, p. 35.
30. ↑ ^{a b} Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 30 f.
31. ↑ New Germany. February 19, 1962, p. 4.
32. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 33.
33. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 34.
34. ↑ ^{a b} Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 31.
35. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 32 f.
36. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 37 f.
37. ↑ ^{a b} Thomas Köhler in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
38. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 42.
39. ^ Klaus Ullrich: Gold from Innsbruck. Sketches about two Olympic champions and their path: Ortrun Enderlein, Thomas Köhler. 1964, p. 54.
40. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. 2010, p. 38.
41. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 44.
42. ^ Klaus Ullrich: Gold from Innsbruck. Sketches about two Olympic champions and their path: Ortrun Enderlein, Thomas Köhler. 1964, p. 59 f.
43. ↑ New Germany. June 17, 1964, p. 4.
44. ↑ New Germany. February 8, 1965, p. 4.
45. ↑ New Germany. February 15, 1965, p. 4.
46. ↑ Volker Kluge: The great lexicon of GDR athletes. 2000.
47. ↑ New Germany. February 20, 1967, p. 6.
48. ↑ New Germany. February 22, 1967, p. 8.
49. ↑ New Germany. February 7, 1968, p. 1.
50. ↑ Hans-Joachim Seppelt, Holger Schück, Karin Helmstaedt: Indictment, child doping. The legacy of GDR sport. Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-932274-16-4 , p. 108.
51. ↑ ^{a b} New Germany. August 30, 1968, p. 8.
52. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 108.
53. ^ Rolf Hackel: Oberhof: From the hospice of the Johanniter to the city on the Rennsteig; History and landscape Oberhof - a center of winter sports, hiking in the heart of the Thuringian Forest . In: Cities and municipalities in Thuringia . Heinrich-Jung-Verlagsgesellschaft, Ilmenau 1993, ISBN 3-929164-12-4 , p. 163 .
54. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, pp. 104 and 109.
55. ↑ New Germany. 1./2. November 1984.
56. ↑ New Germany. 9/10 November 1985.
57. ↑ New Germany. April 26, 1988, p. 4.
58. ↑ New Germany. May 18, 1974, p. 3.
59. ↑ New Germany. March 25, 1976, p. 3.
60. ↑ New Germany. April 22, 1980, p. 2.
61. ↑ Martin Einsiedler: The German sports unit. An examination of the sport-political transformation and unification processes in the years 1989/90. Aachen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89899-641-9 , p. 101.
62. ↑ Martin Einsiedler: The German sports unit. An examination of the sport-political transformation and unification processes in the years 1989/90. Aachen 2011, ISBN 978-3-89899-641-9 , p. 115.
63. ↑ Thomas Köhler: Two sides of the coin. Thomas Köhler remembers. 2010, p. 206.
64. ↑ Jens Weinreich: The highways and miracle pills of the GDR doping functionary Thomas Köhler.
65. ↑ So far the clearest verdict in the Berlin doping trial: Röder with suspended prison sentence. ( Memento of the original from June 30, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: NZZ . October 25, 1999.
66. ^ GDR functionary Köhler ridicules doping victims . In: Welt Online. September 14, 2010.
67. ↑ Ex-GDR sports official confirms nationwide doping. In: Spiegel Online . September 14, 2010.
68. ↑ GDR athletes accuse author Köhler of irresponsibility. In: Spiegel Online . September 14, 2010.