Two doctors and three trainers of the former TSC Berlin Club stand accused of damaging the health of 17 swimmers between 1979 and 1989, when the Berlin Wall fell, by administering steroids through pills or injections. The trial is the second of its kind to put the former Communist country's systematic doping policy under the spotlight since German unification in 1990.

Ulrich Suender, 58, the club's chief doctor, admitted to giving the drugs but denied any wrongdoing, saying he had been told by his superiors any damage could be reversed.

``I did not know the full extent of the side effects in those days and I did not worry about it too much either,'' he told the Berlin state court.

Prosecutors argue that in some cases the drugs led to serious problems with muscular growth and that some of the swimmers sufferedirreversible damage, such as infertility.

They say that at the beginning of every training year the trainers and doctors of each club used to compile a list of swimmers who would receive the drugs.

Fellow doctor Dorit Roesler, 50, and trainers Peter Mattonet, 48, Bernd Christochowitz, 40, and Klaus Klemenz, 55, also stood on trial alongside Suender.