Manfred Ewald

"Would you like to take a walk," Manfred Ewald asked as he finished his morning coffee. "I'll show you where it all began." He left the lobby of the Grand Hotel near the Friedrichstrasse train station, walked a block through a business district that, for East Berlin, is thriving and turned right on Neustadtische Kirchstrasse.

Major news organizations, including The Times, offered an expanded obituary on Manfred Ewald, the former East German minister of sport who died last month. Even though the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and his country no longer exists, his death was considered worldwide news primarily because of his former role as an architect of East Germany's nefarious drug program for athletes.

Major news organizations, including The Times, offered an expanded obituary on Manfred Ewald, the former East German minister of sport who died last month. Even though the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and his country no longer exists, his death was considered worldwide news primarily because of his former role as an architect of East Germany's nefarious drug program for athletes.

Manfred Ewald, who as head of the state sports program in the former East Germany oversaw one of the most despicable, large-scale doping experiments ever conducted in the name of Olympic glory and national pride, has died. He was 76. Ewald, a former Nazi who after World War II served the Communist regime in East Germany at its highest levels, died Monday of complications of pneumonia in his hometown, Damsdorf, southeast of Berlin.

Manfred Ewald, who as head of the state sports program in the former East Germany oversaw one of the most despicable, large-scale doping experiments ever conducted in the name of Olympic glory and national pride, has died. He was 76. Ewald, a former Nazi who after World War II served the Communist regime in East Germany at its highest levels, died Monday of complications of pneumonia in his hometown, Damsdorf, southeast of Berlin.

Experts in former East Germany developed a doping nasal spray before the 1988 Olympics that was virtually undetectable, a leading swimmer alleged today. Raik Hannemann, who Monday admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs, said that the spray had the same effect as anabolic steroids and that traces of its use would disappear after three days.

Germans proudly passed a post-unification milestone Sunday by shuttering a police investigative unit that sought to bring Communist-era abusers to justice, from sports officials who doped young athletes into ill health and infamy to border guards who shot at people trying to escape over the Berlin Wall.

Hal Sutton has agreed to be the Ryder Cup captain for the United States in 2004 after serving as the team's emotional leader as a player. Sutton met with PGA of America executives last week during the Disney World Golf Classic, according to a PGA Tour source who spoke on condition of anonymity. He decided to accept the job after talking it over with his family, the source said. The PGA of America said the captain will be announced Thursday.

Bill Self, who led Tulsa to the round of eight in the NCAA tournament last season, was hired Friday as basketball coach at Illinois. He replaces Lon Kruger, who quit last month to coach the Atlanta Hawks. Self led the Golden Hurricane to a 74-27 record in three seasons. He takes over an Illini team that has all its starters and key reserves returning after a 22-10 season. The coach met his new players Friday after completing details Thursday night on a $900,000-a-year contract.

Dan O'Brien, the defending Olympic champion in the decathlon and one of track and field's biggest names over the last decade, said Tuesday he plans to withdraw from the U.S. Olympic trials in Sacramento and will miss the Sydney Games. O'Brien, 34, said he partially tore connective tissue on the bottom of his left foot while practicing the high jump last Wednesday. He said he wouldn't formally withdraw until just before the competition begins. "I'm 98, 99% out right now," he said.

"Would you like to take a walk," Manfred Ewald asked as he finished his morning coffee. "I'll show you where it all began." He left the lobby of the Grand Hotel near the Friedrichstrasse train station, walked a block through a business district that, for East Berlin, is thriving and turned right on Neustadtische Kirchstrasse.

Marion Jones, the U.S. Olympic track champion who last week was stripped of her medals after confessing to steroid use during the 2000 Olympiad, has cast a pall over her sport, disappointed a generation of children, let down her country and besmirched Olympic traditions of good sportsmanship and fair play that have endured since . . . well . . . er, since April, when six Austrian skiers received lifetime Olympic bans for their roles in a blood-doping scandal at the 2006 Turin Games.

The University of Pittsburgh settled a lawsuit by a paralyzed football player, but the amount the player will be paid was in dispute Tuesday. Lawyers for Demale Stanley, 23, said he will get $31 million, but the university put the sum at about $5 million. Stanley contended the university and football coaches, including Johnny Majors, were negligent during an indoor practice four years ago when the player hit a padded concrete wall head first.