http://de.sports.yahoo.com/20032006/30/steuer-raeumt-stasi-vergangenheit-fehler.html
Ingo Steuer is in Calgary with Savchenko/Szolkowy (there was never a question about his going), but according to one article, his ordeal has taken its toll and it really shows in his face.
He finally talked with the German equivalent of the Associated Press (dpa). I'll summarize the article that appeared on German Yahoo today. I'm sure there will be others.
Summary: Two months after being exposed as "informal colleague Torsten," Ingo Steuer has admitted mistakes in his life for the first time, and calls his work with the East German secret police (Stasi) a personal disgrace.
"I'm so ashamed that I worked with state security. I didn't understand what it was all about back then."
"I've thought long and hard about whether or not I did something terrible. I couldn't live with that."
The release of his Stasi files, fighting to go to the Olympics, and the press circus have cost him all his energy. "I feel like a dangerous criminal; I'm mentioned in the same breath as murderers." He feels like he's in a bad movie, and all motivation has left him. "I don't plan anything anymore. If I'm no longer needed, then so be it."
He doesn't understand why he was accused just before Turin and not much earlier. "Why am I being crucified now; they could have done it in 1994. But I was successful then, with Mandy."
He says that, in retrospect, the events he was involved in in the former East Germany can be explained by the naivety of an 18-year-old. "That's how we were raised, it was totally normal and didn't seem like something evil to me. When I think about it today, I'd like to erase that whole period."
He says he's been sucked into a vortex. "It can't be made good again by apologizing." He says that after the Berlin Wall fell, he did meet with victims from the skating scene. "I face up to problems if I've messed up." He admits that he lied to the army when he enlisted [as a sports soldier]. "We slid from one political system into another, were under such pressure. I was naive and gullible, but I wanted a new start. And you didn't get that chance if you had been involved with the state apparatus."
Now, at the end of March, he will leave the army sports group and begin studying English and American. [Note: German students need to specify American or English, and must keep pronunciation, rules, and vocabulary separate.] The requirements under the new judging system in figure skating have become so exacting that he wants to perfect his English to keep pace. "If I do something, then it has to be perfect."
How things will go after the World Championships, without the financial support of the army, he doesn't know. "I'm so burned out, my athletes are already asking me why I'm so bitter." At the same time, he admits that having it all out in the open has a positive side. "Now I can freely talk about everything."
He's hoping that the German skating federation and the association for the advancement of competitive sports will continue to work with him. The federation will talk with him at the end of the season. And the Olympic committee's appeal [to determine who has final say in naming the Olympic team] will be heard in superior court in Berlin.
Ingo Steuer is in Calgary with Savchenko/Szolkowy (there was never a question about his going), but according to one article, his ordeal has taken its toll and it really shows in his face.
He finally talked with the German equivalent of the Associated Press (dpa). I'll summarize the article that appeared on German Yahoo today. I'm sure there will be others.
Summary: Two months after being exposed as "informal colleague Torsten," Ingo Steuer has admitted mistakes in his life for the first time, and calls his work with the East German secret police (Stasi) a personal disgrace.
"I'm so ashamed that I worked with state security. I didn't understand what it was all about back then."
"I've thought long and hard about whether or not I did something terrible. I couldn't live with that."
The release of his Stasi files, fighting to go to the Olympics, and the press circus have cost him all his energy. "I feel like a dangerous criminal; I'm mentioned in the same breath as murderers." He feels like he's in a bad movie, and all motivation has left him. "I don't plan anything anymore. If I'm no longer needed, then so be it."
He doesn't understand why he was accused just before Turin and not much earlier. "Why am I being crucified now; they could have done it in 1994. But I was successful then, with Mandy."
He says that, in retrospect, the events he was involved in in the former East Germany can be explained by the naivety of an 18-year-old. "That's how we were raised, it was totally normal and didn't seem like something evil to me. When I think about it today, I'd like to erase that whole period."
He says he's been sucked into a vortex. "It can't be made good again by apologizing." He says that after the Berlin Wall fell, he did meet with victims from the skating scene. "I face up to problems if I've messed up." He admits that he lied to the army when he enlisted [as a sports soldier]. "We slid from one political system into another, were under such pressure. I was naive and gullible, but I wanted a new start. And you didn't get that chance if you had been involved with the state apparatus."
Now, at the end of March, he will leave the army sports group and begin studying English and American. [Note: German students need to specify American or English, and must keep pronunciation, rules, and vocabulary separate.] The requirements under the new judging system in figure skating have become so exacting that he wants to perfect his English to keep pace. "If I do something, then it has to be perfect."
How things will go after the World Championships, without the financial support of the army, he doesn't know. "I'm so burned out, my athletes are already asking me why I'm so bitter." At the same time, he admits that having it all out in the open has a positive side. "Now I can freely talk about everything."
He's hoping that the German skating federation and the association for the advancement of competitive sports will continue to work with him. The federation will talk with him at the end of the season. And the Olympic committee's appeal [to determine who has final say in naming the Olympic team] will be heard in superior court in Berlin.
