The recent scandal involving Russian athletics and the country's anti-doping programme, has brought spotlight onto state involvement in systematic doping.
But it does have some parallels with one notorious case.
The East German doping programme, which was exposed by Professor Werner Franke - a professor of cell and molecular biology at the German Cancer Research center - showed the true impact in a sporting context and the resulting dangers to health of systematic doping.
East Germany won over 500 medals in summer and winter Olympics from 1968 to 1988, but that quest for dominance had horrific consequences for athletes' health in subsequent years.
Tonight on Off The Ball, we had the pleasure of being joined by Professor Franke who co-wrote the illuminating 1991 book Doping: From Research to Deceit with his wife.
"Here, we have rapid acute effects such as deepening of the voice, male body [changes] and clitoris enlargement and so forth," Franke told Joe of some of the documented effects of anabolic steroids on East German athletes.
"Over the decades, there are severe things like certain types of breast cancer. There are also cardiomyopathies, severe heart diseases up to the need to regenerate the whole heart etc."
Andreas Krieger in on his way to stand witness at the trial on doping in East Germany in Berlin, Friday, May 26, 2000 (AP Photo/Jockel Finck)
An example of the effects include former figure skater Marie Katrin Kanitz who was put on a doping programme from the age of 16 and who has since told CNN of the damaging life-long effects for her and others, saying: "Most of the women can't have children, the uterus is damaged, there are men with cancer, problems with the heart, difficulties with the bones in the body. For me, I don't have children and that is a big sadness".
Heidi Kreiger, who was a shot-putter, was left with such masculine traits due to the doping regimen she was put on that she eventually underwent sex reassignment surgery and a name change to Andreas.
In the East German case, the blue pill - a steroid called Oral-Turinabol - gained notoriety and Franke says it has resulted in a high level of liver damage.
"It's abuse of science. There's a background of science behind that whole criminality of doping. And I say criminality because luckily in a way, we succeeded that these cases went to the criminal court room and there were verdicts and sentences."
Franke also discussed how the evidence which revealed the extent of the systematic doping was acquired.
Listen to the full interview on the podcast.
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