Since the end of the Second World War, Germany had been divided. The western sector was governed by the British, French and Americans, the east by the Soviets.

Since 1945, no German teams had taken part in international sporting competition. The minutes of the 1947 International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Stockholm recorded the efforts to re-establish a National Olympic Committee for Germany but noted ‘’recognition had been refused.’

As had happened after the First World War, the defeated powers were not invited to the 1948 Games but one German prisoner of war, gymnast Helmut Bantz, did act as a coach to the British men's team.

The situation was further complicated because German IOC member Karl Ritter Von Halt had been a sports official during the Nazi era. Although not part of the military, some still considered him persona non grata.

It became clear that the Western Allies wanted to re-involve the West Germans in international sport as soon as possible.

In May 1950, International Association of Athletics Federations President and senior IOC member Lord Burghley received a letter from General Brian Robertson, High Commissioner in Berlin, which expressed "the earnest hope that you will use your best endeavours to obtain agreement that the Federal Republic of Germany should be invited to take part in the Olympic Games of 1952. After all the terrible things that have happened in Germany during the recent past, it seems clear to me that we must look to the youth to make a new start".

After an Executive Board meeting in Lausanne, an agreement was reached by representatives of East and West – "the German team would be formed from the best German amateurs regardless of their place of residence".

Back in East Berlin, the politburo refused to ratify it.

Before the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics. IOC President Sigfrid Edstrom called a meeting with the East Germans. Edstrom, Vice President Avery Brundage and Olympic chancellor Otto Mayer travelled to Copenhagen.

"The East German delegates failed to appear, although we ascertained they were in Copenhagen. As you may imagine, we have not looked with great favour on any subsequent appeals from East Germany," complained Brundage later.

The German teams at the 1952 Oslo Winter Olympics and that summer in Helsinki did not include anyone from the East.

The Cold War was getting colder, especially after 1953 when a workers' strike in East Berlin was brutally put down.

In 1955, though, Brundage, by now IOC President, reported that the East German NOC had been "re-organised". A new President had been installed, a publisher called Heinz Schobel who would later join the IOC.

The IOC voted by 27 to seven to provisionally recognise the East German NOC. "Eastern Germany has given a solemn guarantee to form part of a single team at the Games," said Konstantin Adrianov, IOC member in the USSR.

At the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the Germans included 58 from the West and 18 from the East.

"We have achieved in the field of sport what the politicians have failed to achieve so far," Brundage told the IOC Session.

Later that year in Melbourne, there were 138 from the West and 37 from the East. As a result, the IOC nominated the West German Olympic Committee as the recipient of the Bonacossa Cup. Willi Daume, the new IOC member in West Germany, diplomatically suggested it should also be given to the East, an idea which was enthusiastically accepted.

These Games were held in a highly-charged atmosphere. The repression of the Hungarian uprising meant those in West Germany were increasingly uneasy.

"It was better that the division of Germany should be brought again and again to the notice of the world rather than that this condition should be veiled over," said West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, an opponent of a unified team.

Even IOC minutes admitted "a feeling of strained relations".

Arguments continued. At the Squaw Valley Games, there were complaints that East German officials and journalists had been refused visas to the United States. The East Germans also requested the use of their national emblem on uniforms. This was refused by the IOC. Instead, a special German Olympic flag was introduced which bore the five Olympic rings in white.

In the early 1960s, the Berlin Wall became a reality and the two Germanys seemed as far apart as ever, yet German "Olympic unity" continued until 1968.

In non-Olympic competition, the Germanys went their separate ways.

In 1966 at the European Championships in Budapest, the famous blue East German vest was seen for the first time. Middle-distance runner Jurgen May was part of their team but defected to the West shortly afterwards.

At the 1969 European Championships in Athens, May was chosen for West Germany but the East Germans protested and the IAAF ruled he could not compete because he had not fulfilled residency qualifications. The other members of the West German team withdrew in protest and competed only in the relays.

By this time, the IOC had agreed that in "Olympic speak", the East should be known as the "German Democratic Republic". This was of particular resonance as the next Olympics were to be held on West German soil in Munich.

In fact, after all the discussion about national identity, the two Germanys wore almost identical uniforms at the opening ceremony. Only the badges and the buttons were different.

There had been very few head-to-head meetings between the national teams of East and West, but they were drawn in the same group of the 1972 Olympic football tournament. It was not the first. The sides had played in the qualification event for the 1964 tournament and the East had won over two legs.

In 1972, a crowd of 80,000 watched at Munich’s Olympic Stadium. It was more than would watch the final of the tournament. Once again, victory went to the East. The match finished 3-2 in their favour.

In October 1973 came the first East-West club encounter in the European Cup (now the UEFA Champions League). Bayern Munich beat Dynamo Dresden en route to winning the trophy.

The most famous football meeting was at the 1974 FIFA World Cup finals held in West Germany. It was the only time East Germany qualified for the tournament. 

"There was quite an uproar in the packed hall when it became evident that the teams from the two German states would be drawn together," said the official FIFA tournament report.

The match took place in Hamburg. In a move which was echoed last year in Pyeongchang, a group of specially-selected East German supporters had been allowed to cross the border.

"They (GDR) played as if their nerves were totally unaffected by this inter-German battle for prestige," said the FIFA report.

In fact, defeat arguably helped West Germany who avoided a second-round group containing the Netherlands and Brazil and went on to lift the trophy.

In 1976, the two countries met in an Olympic qualifier again, this time for men's handball.

"We are coming to Montreal," cried West German team coach Vlado Stenzel as the West went through after matches which evoke strong memories. They have even been portrayed in a television documentary.

The East German women were beginning to dominate athletics but the West had their moments. Annegrit Richter beat East Germany’s star sprinter Renate Stecher to win Olympic 100m gold in Montreal.

In 1977, the women from the East re-established the status quo as they won the first women’s IAAF World Cup. The competition was held on West German soil in Dusseldorf.

It was in the same stadium that the first head-to-head athletics match had taken place but not until 1988. Surprisingly, only 15,000 turned up on the first day and half that figure on the second. 

Of the 39 events, 32 were won by East German athletes. Heike Drechsler recorded the fastest 200m time of the year and insisted: "I’m still lacking a bit of sharpness."

Even then, a political dispute threatened to overshadow the match. Discus thrower Wolfang Schmidt had defected and was included in the West German team. At the presentation ceremony, his East German rival Jurgen Schult refused to shake hands.

When the wall came down in 1989, special unification football matches were played but the old sporting systems in the East were soon on the point of collapse.

Drechsler was among those to warn it would be more difficult in the future.

"We have already established ourselves. For the younger ones, it will be much more difficult," she said. 

The full extent of the East German doping programme was yet to be revealed.

There was one last hurrah. At the 1990 European Athletics Championships in Split, East and West Germany competed against each other one final time.

By the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo, re-unification was complete and in 1992, the first truly united German team since the Second World War competed on the Olympic stage. 

In the 30 years since, they have enjoyed great Olympic success and have also won the men's and women’s FIFA World Cups.