East German icon Ludwig recalls fall of Berlin Wall

Olaf Ludwig Photo: © KlaDi

Olaf Ludwig Photo: © KlaDi

It is 20 years to the day since border points between East and West Berlin were opened, an event that set Germany on the road towards reunification. Among those East Germans stunned by the speed of events that led to the opening of the countries borders was Olaf Ludwig, one of the country's sporting icons having taken the Olympic road title in Seoul in 1988 and won no fewer than 36 stages in the Peace Race.

Peter Cossins has written about professional cycling since 1993 and is a contributing editor to Procycling. He is the author of The Monuments: The Grit and the Glory of Cycling's Greatest One-Day Races (Bloomsbury, March 2014) and has translated Christophe Bassons' autobiography, A Clean Break (Bloomsbury, July 2014). 

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