Janos Satori, recognized as the first official National Team coach of the German Swimming Federation, has passed away at 83.
The Hungarian-born coach was a revolutionary of his time, bringing the interval-based training methodology to his adopted homeland, and was named the first national coach of the German Swimming Federation in 1959.
He led the country to 4 medals at the 1960 Olympic Games and 6 at the 1964 Olympic Games, both of which put the country 4th behind superpowers the United States, Australia, and the Soviet Union.
Satori was also on the front-end of accusations about the East German doping machine: suspicions that would later be proved true.
In an article in German paper the Zeit, as early as 1973, it’s noted that in testimony:
“Janos Satori, who for years was the successful coach of the West Greman swim team, believes that the huge improvement in performance could not come about by ordinary means and methods. It is based, he thinks, on the possible aid of anabolic steroids.”
Satori died on December 27th, 2014.