The sad truth is that the GDR girls had career ending injuries,but were forced to compete. Thummler went to a sanatorium after the 1988 Olympics,where she stayed for months. Coaches didn’t want her back at the national trainingcentre,she became pregnant and was a single mother. Gymnastics destroyed her health and by the time she was 37,she was unable to work and was an invalid. Suffering from severe mental problems,she was commited to a mental-hospital,where she spend a long time,but which was a good thing,because she recovered. When she found out that other former GDR gymnasts also suffered from depressions,she started a group therapy; the girls come together and cook dinners together and during the dinner they talk about their problems. Dorthe has lots of support of her two sons.
Oh - I didn't know about her mental problems. Thank you for sharing this with us. It's true... all the stars of the GDR squad in the late 80's had severe health problems. Maxi Gnauck stopped her career, after winning a Gold Medal at the Europeans 1985. She decided not to continue her competitive career due to painful back problems as far as I know. So she wasn't on the team in Montreal the same year at the Worlds... Dagmar Kersten, Gabriele Fähnrich, Martina Jentsch had all injuries during the years and there were news about them (especially about Dagmar Kersten and Gabriele Fähnrich) how they suffered from their deteriorating health and how they had to compete, although they were injured. She (Fähnrich) also complained in recent years how her mental health had suffered from those years. There were also some news reports about the use of doping in the time of the East German dominance during the 80's. The gymnasts are suffering still the consequences from this abuse.
This routine was very controversial at the time and remains so in some people's eyes. The main point was after she does her mount she does 2 leaps and the second leap was credited to her as a new skill in the code of points. This was incredibly significant because a new skill named after a gymnast served as originality and gave them a bonus that other gymnasts might not get. As a result of that skill she was able to qualify for this final and finish third in qualifications at the Olympics the next year!! She was higher than Bogi and Dudeva who both won medals in EF in 1988!! It is controversial because it was not considered something really new just because she had flexed legs and wasn't difficult enough to warrant a C level in the code to most people. It has since been removed.
While GDR had the talent to have a top team. They didn’t deserve to be 3rd. Bulgaria and even the USA by 1988 was superior. Ellen Berger must have been working overtime to get those germans on that podium.
That's why she deducted .5? from the USA's score when Rhonda Faehn squatted behind the springboard during Kelly Garrison-Steves' compulsory bars. They were beating the GDR, and the deduction put them in 4th 😠
