|
|
Article: East, West Find Common Ground; Germany's Unified Team Views Atlanta as a Chance to Test Its Mettle
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- July 17, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
|
They've taken the best features from the old East German
Olympic juggernaut, including a constellation of sports schools and
an obsession with systematic training. They've also kept the best of
the west, including western Germany's high-tech diagnostic
equipment.
Yet the united German team gathering in Atlanta this week
may remain less than the sum of its parts, at least in terms of the
total medals collected in the Cold War days when the two Germanys
fielded separate Olympic squads.
At Barcelona in 1992, for example, the first pan-German
team to compete following reunification in 1990 finished a
respectable third in total medals behind the Commonwealth of
Independent States ...