Andreas Berger
Andreas Berger ( born June 9, 1961 in Gmunden ) is a former Austrian track and field athlete.
Life
1987 and 1988 Andreas Berger took fourth place at the European Indoor Championships (200 m ), 1987 and 1989 he was a semi-finalist at the World Championships. In 1988 he took part in the Olympic Games, where he reached the rank 17 (100 m) and 36 (200 m). In 1989 he reached the semi-finals of the World Indoor Championships and its probably the biggest international success: at the Grand Prix meeting in New Delhi ( India), he won the 100 m race, defeating Among other things, the great Carl Lewis. He also became European Indoor champion (60 m) in 1989. In the 1992 Olympics he won together with Franz Ratzenberger, Thomas Renner and Christoph Pöstinger the 7th place in the 4 x 100 m relay; the 100 - m- forward he caused two false starts and was disqualified.
Berger is still ÖLV record holder over 100 meters ( 10.15 s/15. August 1988 in Linz). Beginning of 1993, Berger's performance increased suddenly and succeeded to equalize his record.
Doping
On 26 July 1993 he was transferred prior to the World Championships in Stuttgart doping with " methane - dienone ."
Two days later, Berger made in an ORF interview before hundreds of thousands of television viewers a clean sweep:
"We want to put an end to the game; There are four positive doping cases. "
He and his equally caught in the act by the IAAF inspector comrades Franz Ratzenberger, Thomas Renner and Gernot Kellermayr had decided to waive their due crosscheck. This was an outright admission of the allegations in the awareness of the potential consequences.
Berger was then blocked by the Austrian Association for four years. Against this decision he trod then the Provincial Court for Civil Matters Vienna the legal process by which he was successful ( decision of 21 February 1996), " since the period of Ineligibility Sohin in many ways contrary to fundamental principles of the Austrian legal system ," as it was called in the judgment.
On 5 September 1998 Andreas Berger denied as part of the Everyman decathlon in Linz the first 100 -meter sprint since the end of his doping suspension. The 37 -year-old Upper Austrians did not come here in 11,85 s behind the 400 -meter specialist Thomas Ganger ( 11.57 s ) over second place out.
Caused a stir Berger with his opinion on the sudden death of U.S. sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner:
" The high-performance sports in today's presentation basically not healthy, but I still places a certain double standard. Also it has seized me when I heard the news. My wife has said, be glad that they have caught you. I can only give her right. "
In a newspaper interview, he said in August 2006:
" It is said that 99 percent were clean and one percent dopes. I maintain that it is the reverse. "
"I am in a great situation that I can speak the only one honest about doping. Yes, I would do it again. With my current knowledge I would do it but clever, so I will not get caught. [ ... ] Not doping was the mistake of my life, but smoking. 2004 I stopped. "
Life after sport
Berger participated in the ORF - football show " The Match" part, but had to retire because of 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 at the ski flying hill in Bad Mitterndorf ( Kulm ).