Katrin Krabbe, world champion at two sprint distances, and German teammate Grit Breuer tested positive for the anabolic agent Clenbuterol Friday and were suspended from competition by the national track federation.
Krabbe won at 100 and 200 meters and Breuer won the silver at 400 meters at the 1991 world championships in Tokyo. They face a four-year ban from competition by the International Amateur Athletics Federation (IAAF)."We didn't expect a different result. Anything else would have been a surprise," commented Jan Kern, managing director of the German Track and Field Federation (DLV).
Only seven months ago Krabbe and Breuer - and another teammate, Silke Moeller - faced a four-year-ban.
The trio had submitted identical urine samples at a Jan. 24 random test at their training camp in Stellenbosch, South Africa, a sign of manipulation under German and IAAF laws.
The athletes were suspended by the DLV on Feb. 15 but acquitted by the federation's legal committee on April 6 as well as the IAAF's Arbitration Panel on June 28, both times on technical grounds.
The new case, which rocked the German team during the XXVth Olympiad, has almost certainly ended the glamorous career of the 22-year-old Krabbe.
Friday's B-test was carried out by Manfred Donike, head of the Sports Science Institute in Cologne. Krabbe and Breuer tested positive for the substance in samples submitted at random drug tests on July 2, 16, 22 and 23.
The athletes and their coach Thomas Springstein already had admitted after the positive A-test that they had used Clenbuterol since April 16.
Clenbuterol, designed to treat asthma, has become the hottest forbidden substance in recent months because of its ability to build up muscles rapidly and serve as a stimulant.
Three athletes tested positive for Clenbuterol during the Barcelona Olympics, which ended Sunday. The IAAF acts upon the substance's use in the same way as with steroids, a four-year-ban for first-time offenders.
Springstein, who said he had obtained the Clenbuterol on the black market, was fired by the Neubrandenburg club on Tuesday, and club officials hinted the athletes might share his fate.
Spokesman Horst Wyssuwa said he supported ouster to keep the damage low for the club.
Athletes, who like Krabbe were bred in former East Germany, were especially disappointed and outraged, as the earlier case had been seen by many as western German officials trying to deprive the easterners of their showpiece athlete.
"This is a slap into the face," said javelin Olympic champion Silke Renk.
Krabbe had benefited from the former communist state's famed scouting system and hit the spotlight at the 1990 European Championships in Split where she won the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.
She was instantly dubbed German athletics new glamour girl, then added the 100m and 200m world championship gold in Tokyo and was rated a favorite to repeat the performance in Barcelona.
However, she always stated she owed her success entirely to the former East, which rated higher than the country's merger.
"I owe all my success to East Germany. That's why it's hard to come to terms with the new circumstances," she said.
Krabbe had similar difficulties in her statements on drug abuse.
"Everyone gets on my nerves with this issue all year long," she said in late 1991.
"I have not committed drug abuse and have not manipulated," she said during the first 1992 case.
However, other athletes had already threatened to boycott running against her and American 200m Olympic champion Gwen Torrence said the reason Krabbe had not been banned is because she is white.
In addition to losing money from appearance fees for not being able to compete for 48 months, Krabbe will also suffer further financial disasters, as her multi million dollar endorsements are likely to come to a sudden halt.