Overview
- The ARD series, produced by Hajo Seppelt and Bettina Malter after six years of work across more than 50 countries, published its findings this week and presents undercover reporting, documents and survivor testimony.
- Reporters found child-doping is organized rather than isolated, with adults in training systems supplying anabolic steroids, growth hormones and other substances to athletes often under 16.
- The investigation highlights hotspots including India, where reporters found syringes and used packaging near youth facilities and where WADA records show high numbers of positive tests for minors.
- It documents long-term harms and new first‑time testimony about altered sexual development from former East German champion Hans‑Georg Aschenbach and links past state programs in the DDR to systematic dosing of children.
- ARD records show repeated institutional failures to detect or investigate adult facilitators, with rapid cremations, few autopsies, sparse prosecutions and only limited probes announced so far, leaving calls for wider accountability and policy change unanswered.