Embellished To The Point Of Dishonesty

At first blush this is an amazing story ... but in reality too amazing! So amazing that it caught the attention of the German magazine Der Spiegel ... who in September of 2009 exposed this film for what it is ... a fraud!

Highlights from the article are ...

- German Authorities did not know that Dora Ratjan was not a woman until 1938
- Gretel Bergmann did not know that Dora Ratjan was not a woman until 1966
- Dora was not a bumpkin brought in to defeat Gretel ... nor was she offered Merchant Marine training as an incentive
- Dora Ratjan was a high jumping champion long before she met Gretel
- Dora & Gretel did not have the close relationship portryed in the film
- There was no conspiracy between Dora & Gretel when She was dropped from the team
- Gretel Bergmann was not antagonized by her fellow team mates

These embellishments are cheap and sad as Gretel's story alone is very compelling ... as is Dora's story! I think a great disservice was done to both of them!

For further information access the article at the link ...

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/1936-berlin-olympics-how-dora-the-man-competed-in-the-woman-s-high-jump-a-649104.html