Ellen Berger

Ellen Berger (1920/1921 – 16 April 1997) was an East German artistic gymnast, coach and International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) judge.

Career Berger began her career as an artistic gymnast in Leipzig, ending her active career in 1951. In 1953, she became the East Germany women's national artistic gymnastics team coach, a post she held until 1976. In the women's all-around, Berger entered Comaneci's balance beam score as a 9.85 after thirty minutes of debate, overruling the Romanian head beam judge, Maria Simionescu, who had refused to do so. This result put Comaneci into joint second place. The deduction sent the United States into fourth place behind East Germany, with United States coach Béla Károlyi claiming that it was politically motivated and accusing Berger of cheating. FIG President Yuri Titov upheld Berger's call. Former United States coach Don Peters speculated that Berger may have been seeking retaliation against Károlyi for an incident in the 1984 women's all-around event.

Berger resigned from the FIG in 1992, and died in 1997 of a heart attack at the age of 76.