Betty Heidler: 'Competing in sports gave me self-confidence'

DW: You've spent a large part of your life as an elite track-and-field athlete. How has the sport shaped you?

Betty Heidler: I spent 18 years training as a high-performance athlete and this experience changed me a lot over the years. As a child I was shy and often teased because of my red hair. Competing in sports made me much more self-confident. I learned to build on my strengths and combat my weaknesses while working towards a goal. This still helps me today. Alongside my athletic career I also completed my training with the federal police to become a qualified police officer. Now I'm studying law and I'm scheduled to take my first state exam next year – as I look to move up in the police force. 

The highlight of this track-and-field year is the Athletics World Championships in Doha, which are being held unusually late in the year. Also unusual will be the high temperatures – of up to 40 degrees Celcius (104 degrees Fahrenheit). In an effort to make the events more bearable for the athletes and spectators, the stadium has been fitted with air conditioners designed to bring the temperature down to 28 degrees. What's your view on these World Championships?

I'll be interested to see how well the athletes are able to perform in these conditions. Given the extreme temperatures and unusual scheduling [the marathons are to start at midnight local time to avoid the heat], I am convinced that there will be some surprising winners. Athletes who are best able to deal with these conditions will have a good chance to win. I find the fact that the Worlds are being held so late problematic, because next year's Olympic Games in Tokyo will be held in July. If I were still competing, I would have carefully considered whether I wanted to go to Doha or give it a miss because this could have thrown my competition rhythm off.

You can't talk about any major track-and-field meet without questioning whether all of the winning performances have been achieved without the use of performance-enhancing substances. You know all about this, having just received your silver medal from the 2012 London Olympics this past May after Tatjana Lyssenko of Russia was stripped of her gold medal for doping. What were your feelings when your bronze medal was replaced with silver – seven years after the fact?  

On the one hand, I felt a sense of joy and satisfaction, but on the other I felt anger. I had already learned in 2016 that Tatjana Lyssenko had tested positive. This came as no surprise to me, she had also been caught before. Having finished third, at least I was on the podium to experience the award ceremony in 2012 – as opposed to the then-fourth-place finisher and now bronze-medal winner from China... But the competition could have gone differently. Maybe I would have had a chance to win. I was cheated out of the situation.

Heading into these World Championships doping is very much a current issue. Russia's athletes remain excluded, only 30 of them are allowed to compete as neutrals. Christian Coleman of the United States is being allowed to compete in Doha, despite having three missed doping tests. Are different standards being applied?

We German athletes have in the past complained about double standards being applied. This is a problem that the IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) and its reelected President Sebastian Coe finally need to tackle. Generally speaking, I think it is a shame that whenever you think of athletics, doping is bound to be in the back of everyone's mind. It's a shame for the athletes, who achieve their performances in an honest manner.

Back when you were still active in the hammer throw, how did you deal with things when you knew that some of your competitors might have been cheating?    

This wasn't easy for me to deal with, and neither is it for today's athletes. I always had to ask myself whether to shake hands with them or be seen with them. What's important to know is that we clean athletes had to put in more effort than them in order to try to make up for the advantage they may be getting through illicit means. And more intensive training also entails a higher risk of injury. However, the knowledge that there are some black sheep was never a reason for me to think of giving up.

Betty Heidler, 35, was Germany's most successful athlete in the hammer throw. She won gold at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, as well as silver at the 2009 Worlds in Berlin and the 2011 Worlds in Daegu. Between 2011 and 2014 she held the world record. Her 79.42-meter toss remains the German record today. She only received her Olympic silver medal from the 2012 games this past May, after the gold-medal winner in London, Tatjana Lyssenko of Russia, tested positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance.

This interview was conducted by Herbert Schalling.