The coronavirus pandemic snuffed out the Olympic torch in Tokyo in 2020. And the
rescheduling of the world’s biggest sporting event remains to be a highly debated topic.
But the mounting controversy---not to mention expenses—surrounding the Tokyo Summer Olympics
is just one of the many issues and scandals the international sporting event has faced
throughout the years. Today, we’re rounding up the 10 Biggest Controversies that Shook the Olympics.
What's up, fact-natics! This is Discovery Amuse,
serving up your daily dose of the most outrageous, outlandish, and out-of-this-world fun facts!
Stay tuned because our top pick happened during one of the
darkest times, not just in Olympic, but in human history.
#10: Russian Doping Scandal
The Olympics is no stranger to dirty athletes turning to performance-enhancing drugs to become
superhuman versions of themselves, and have a leg up on the competition.
But nothing was bigger than Russia's state-sponsored deep
web of doping that unraveled during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The revelation of the systemic doping has led to 47 Olympic and tens of world championship
medals stripped from Russian competitors. Reports said Russia developed the program
after its athletes won only three gold medals at the 2010 Winter Games. Apparently, they can't
stand a possible repeat of the country’s worst showing since the collapse of the Soviet Union. So
Russian officials allegedly swapped tainted urine from doping athletes with clean samples
and passed them through a mouse hole in the wall of the Moscow Laboratory. But although
the Kremlin vehemently denied this, the former director of Russia's anti-doping laboratory,
Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, eventually blew the whistle and revealed the deep-seated conspiracy.
Rodchenkov stated that the Federal Security Service tampered with over
100 urine samples as part of a cover-up.
“So now it’s a big, big problem, and I’m sorry to creating such
problem because of my experience and knowledge (jump to 1.25) because now
it’s effective and working and it’s not my contribution to fight against doping.”
At least fifteen of the Russian medals won at Sochi were the result of doping. Because of this,
Russia has been banned in the next two Olympic Games.
Stick around ‘til number one to find out about what might be the worst Olympic Games in history.
#9: Wrong Champion
American pugilist Roy Jones Jr dominated the boxing ring at the 1988 Seoul Olympics
when he zoomed straight to the gold medal match without losing a single round during
the qualifying battles. But when he faced South Korean Park Si-Hun for the final match,
that’s when things went south for Jones.
Anyone with clear vision knew that the American dominated the Korean pugilist.
Heck, Jones landed 86 punches to Park's 32! When the bell rang, it was clear that Jones
was the gold medalist in the light-middleweight final. But when it was time for the announcement,
the judges favored the Korean in a 3-2 decision.
The referee looked disgusted by the result, and Jones was visibly in disbelief after being robbed.
To this day, the decision has not been rectified.
Park even apologized, humiliated that he won what was clearly not his medal to take home.
Jones went on to have a phenomenal career,
holding multiple world championships in 4 weight classes. Meanwhile,
the supposed champion Park Si Hun ended up hanging his gloves at the end of the Seoul Games.
#8: The Greatest Olympic Cheat
The modern pentathlon is an Olympic sport that involves 5 different events: freestyle swimming,
equestrian, pistol shooting, cross-country running, and fencing. And in the 70’s,
Ukranian olympian Boris Onischenko (oni-SHENG-ko) was the Soviet Union’s
pentathlon pride. He was part of the gold medal team in the 1972 Olympics
and bagged several hardware in the pentathlon world from 1967 to 1974.
But in his desire to maintain his glory, Onischenko tried to pull a fast one on
his British opponents at the 1976 Montreal Olympics. When the Ukranian athlete faced
Jim Fox at the fencing event, the Briton noticed that Onischenko’s electric epee (eh-PAY)
kept on registering a hit without his epee even touching Fox. Turns out that Onischenko,
or someone from his team, made a few modifications to the handle of the Olympian’s epee blade,
which enabled him to score a hit without even making contact.
Onischenko was ejected from the competition and was nicknamed anywhere from
“Dishoneschenko” to "Boris the Cheat." He was later expelled from the Communist party,
and was stripped of his rank and his awards.
#7: Dirtiest Race in History
All eyes were on the Olympic men’s 100-meter final during the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and spectators
particularly set their eyes on fierce track rivals Ben Johnson of Canada, and American Carl Lewis.
Fans were stunned when Johnson zoomed past his opponents to earn the Olympic
gold at a record-breaking speed of 9.79 seconds.
But just as lightning-fast as he claimed that medal, it was taken away from him 3
days later after officials discovered that Johnson had been taking anabolic steroids.
A drug called Stanozolol was traced in his urine. And just like that,
Johnson turned from the world’s best sprinter to being dubbed the world’s fastest junkie. But he
says the doping problem has gotten even worse despite his highly publicized fall from grace.
#6: Blood in the Water
What you’re witnessing isn’t a bloody shark attack, but a
reenactment of the Olympics’ bloodiest water polo match.
In the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia,
Hungary's face-off against the Soviet Union water polo squad happened against
the backdrop of a political turmoil fueled by the just-concluded Hungarian Revolution.
I can't blame the Hungarian water polo captain for refusing to shake
the Russian captain's hand at the start, but things only got more heated from then on.
During the last two minutes, Hungarian player Ervin Zádor emerged with blood gushing down from
above his eye after being punched by Russian opponent Valentin Prokopov. The Hungarian team
got out of the water with a 4-0 victory, and ultimately took home the gold for their country.
#5: Drama in the Hard Court
Prior to the 1972 Munich Olympics, the US men’s basketball team had stood undefeated for
36 years. However, they got their first taste of defeat in Munich,
not because of doping or lack of practice, but because of dirty politics.
In the Munich Games of 1972, the US men's basketball team carried a 50-plus-game win
streak and seven consecutive gold medals in Olympic history. They were on the verge
of capping a great run against the USSR in the final, leading by one point with
only 3 seconds left on the clock. But when the Soviets inbounded the ball…
Apparently, Russia’s assistant coach charged onto the court,
saying that they called for a timeout, which was awarded albeit controversially.
Because there’s only 1 second left on the clock, it was reset to 3 seconds.
The Soviets inbounded, ran a play and failed, leading the Americans to celebrate their gold.
But alas, the Soviets got another chance because apparently,
the game clock hadn't been appropriately reset to 3 seconds!
For the third time, the Soviet cagers inbounded but this time,
they made a long pass to their side of the court which they successfully pulled off.
Team USA could not stand the bias and refused to accept their silver medals.
#4: The Greatest Fallen Athlete
Native American athlete Jim Thorpe was widely celebrated as one of the
most accomplished all-around athletes in history.
Even the Swedish King Gustav V hailed him as the
greatest in the world during the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.
The man known for wearing 2 different track shoes obliterated his opponents in both the decathlon
and pentathlon events that year by a huge margin. However, the following year saw him
stripped off of both medals because he played as a paid athlete in minor league baseball before,
which was against the International Olympic Committee's rules on amateurism.
The disgraced sports hero was eventually exonerated in 1982 when the IOC declared
him co-winner of each event. He lives on as among sports' greatest legends and
is even the trophy’s namesake for the top defensive back in American college football.
#3: Black Power Salute
One of the most powerful moments in Olympic
history happened in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
Two Black American sprinters stood shoeless on the podium with their medals and raised a
black-gloved fist as they looked down. The black power salute from gold medalist John Carlos and
bronze winner Tommie Smith shook the world at the height of the civil rights movement in America.
Before the Games, the Black members of the US team threatened to boycott in protest of racism.
However, they did end up running under the flag and making a statement through other means. The
Australian silver medalist, Peter Norman, also showed solidarity by wearing a badge for the
Olympic Project for Human Rights with the goal of exposing the mistreatment of Black athletes.
#2: Tonya and Nancy
Nothing played out more like a movie than the scandal between the US' top
figure skaters - Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan.
The competition between the long-standing rival skaters was cut-throat, quite literally. On
January 6, 1994, in the run up to the Norway Winter Olympics, Harding's ex-husband Jeff
Gillooly orchestrated an attack against Kerrigan after practice at the Cobo Arena in Detroit.
The whack and the wail heard around the world endangered the Olympic hopes of Kerrigan,
thrusting the case into the spotlight. Days later, Harding’s bodyguard Shawn
Eckardt confessed to his involvement and incriminated Gillooly and hitman Shane Stant.
During the 1994 Winter Olympics, Kerrigan earned sweet redemption when she emerged
victorious with a silver, while Harding ended up in eighth place. Harding maintained her
innocence until 1994, but she admitted to hindering prosecution. A few months later,
her 1994 national championships title was revoked, and she was banned from the USFSA forever.
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#1: Nazi Olympics
It seems preposterous that 49 countries still opted to participate in the Berlin Summer Olympics
of 1936, despite the exclusionary principles and the brutal image of the regime at that time.
Nazi Germany used this opportunity to launch
a massive propaganda campaign and hide its anti-Semitic, militaristic character.
In effect, they wanted to turn foreign athletes into ambassadors of Nazism.
The government exploited the Games to show a false image of a famous and tolerant Germany,
with Jewish and black athletes even winning events. The 49 nations who sent teams to the Games
inadvertently legitimized the Hitler regime in the eyes of international and domestic audiences.
In the end, the event only accelerated the spread of the regime across Europe,
which culminated in World War II and the worst crime against humanity, the Holocaust.
So, which of these Olympic controversies did you think
left the biggest impact? Sound off your thoughts in the comments section below.
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