Many think that doping (mainly anabolic steroids) allowed East Germany to a world leader in sports for two decades. They won many Olympic and world gold medals but many athletes failed doping tests or were believed to be taking performance enhancing drugs. In many cases where doping was believed to happen, no proof was found so most of records and medals won by East German athletes still stand. Aside from doping, East Germany soent a lot of money on sporta - mainly Olympic sports. They did this for prestige, propaganda and rivalry with West Germany. The government did a lot of work to find and train athletes and coaches that they believed would do very well. This made it hard say that it was doping rather than very good performance that was the reason for them winning so much.