Busted: 10 dirty deeds in sports history
It takes a lot of hard work, sweat, and perseverance to capture the crown, but for some desperate players, all it takes is just some unsportsmanlike actions to bring home the title. Instead of exhibiting camaraderie, sportsmanship, and teamwork, these undeserving victors mock the goal of sports for the sake of gold medals and trophies. Exposing the trickery of dirty players, here are the top 10 cheating acts in sports history.
10. Unofficial officials
The Sport: Volleyball
The Shame: A referee’s job is to oversee the game, but with this kind of attitude in a match, these Japanese referees don’t even deserve to be called officials. Fresh from May 2016, witnesses from different countries left rants at the International Volleyball Federation’s (IVF) Facebook page about the victory of Japan over Thailand in the Olympic final volleyball qualifying match, 3-2. Since the referees weren’t paying attention when the score tablets of the Japanese officials didn’t work during the second set of the match, the Thai team’s scores weren’t added to their tally. Making matters worse, the Thai players were penalized with two red cards after some rude behavior as they protested about the score tablet during the game.
The Sentence: None, apart from criticism from volleyball fans and Thailand team’s supporters
9. The gymnas-trickster
The Sport: Gymnastics
The Shame: Most teenagers fake their age just to get into a rated movie, but this young gymnast went to the extreme and faked her age to join the Olympics. In the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, China deceived the officials by faking the then 14-year old gymnastic delegate Dong Fangxiao’s birth certificate since she was too young for the tourney. After her secret was exposed, the Sydney Olympic committee took back Dong Fangxiao’s bronze medal along with those of her teammates, and gave the medals to the US team who were the fourth placers. Since then, the Olympics committee has become more cautious in dealing with the participants’ documents and identification.
The Sentence: Disqualification from the Olympics and revocation of China team’s bronze medal
8. The Hand of God
The Sport: Soccer
The Shame: Literally taking matters into his own hands, Argentinean midfielder Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” made one of the most controversial goals in the soccer history during the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals between Argentina and England. As Maradona slapped the ball into the net with his left hand, referee Ali Bin Nasser thought that Maradona hit the ball with his head, crediting Argentina’s winning shot. After the game, Maradona said, “A little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God.”
The Sentence: None, apart from controversy
7. The subway trackster
The Sport: Track and Field
The Shame: Riding a subway for transportation is normal, but riding a subway in the middle of a marathon just to get to the finish line might just cross the line, like in Rosie Ruiz’s case. With a record of two and a half hours, New Yorker Ruiz was hailed as the first woman to cross the finish line in the well-known 26-mile Boston Marathon in 1980 and received her honor as the fastest woman in Boston. Her glory didn’t last long as witnesses came forward a few days later after the event and said they had seen Ruiz run onto the course from the sidelines just a mile from the finish line. The story got even worse when New York Marathon looked deeper into Ruiz’s case and found out that she even took a subway on her way to the finish line.
The Sentence: Marathon disqualification and medal revocation
