Top 30 Times Olympic Athletes Cheated
Nothing violates the spirit of the Olympics more than cheating. Welcome to WatchMojo.world, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most shocking times athletes broke the rules at the Summer and Winter Olympics and the Paralympic Games. Our countdown of the times Olympic athletes cheated includes Crystal Cox, Lance Armstrong, Marion Jones, Tonya Harding, Russia's Doping Scandal, and more! Which sport would you like to see in the Winter or Summer Olympic Games? E-sports? Darts? Dodgeball? Or something else? Let us know below!
### Top 10 Shocking Times Olympic Athletes Cheated
1. **Russia's Doping Scandal**
- Why it’s shocking: Systematic state-sponsored doping involving numerous athletes and officials, leading to bans and significant controversy across multiple Olympics.
2. **Lance Armstrong**
- Why it’s shocking: Although not caught during the Olympics, Armstrong’s admission to extensive doping cast a shadow over his entire career, including his Olympic achievements.
3. **Marion Jones**
- Why it’s shocking: Jones, once celebrated for her multiple gold medals, admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs and was subsequently stripped of her medals.
4. **Tonya Harding**
- Why it’s shocking: The infamous attack on Nancy Kerrigan, orchestrated by Harding’s ex-husband, remains one of the most notorious scandals in Winter Olympic history.
5. **Crystal Cox**
- Why it’s shocking: The relay runner admitted to using steroids, leading to her disqualification and the stripping of her team’s medals from the 2004 Athens Olympics.
6. **Ben Johnson**
- Why it’s shocking: The Canadian sprinter’s 1988 disqualification for using steroids is one of the most famous doping cases in Olympic history.
7. **East German Doping Program**
- Why it’s shocking: A systematic doping program that spanned decades, affecting thousands of athletes, many of whom were unaware of the substances they were being given.
8. **Andreea Răducan**
- Why it’s shocking: The Romanian gymnast lost her gold medal after testing positive for a banned substance found in cold medicine given to her by a team doctor.
9. **Dong Fangxiao**
- Why it’s shocking: The Chinese gymnast was found to be underage during the 2000 Sydney Olympics, resulting in the disqualification of her team’s results.
10. **Thomas Ulrich**
- Why it’s shocking: The German luge athlete was found to have tampered with his sled to gain an unfair advantage, leading to his disqualification.
Cheating undermines the integrity of the Olympics and tarnishes the achievements of honest athletes. Which cheating scandal shocked you the most? Let us know in the comments below!
And as for new sports in the Olympics, what would you like to see? E-sports, darts, dodgeball, or something else? Share your thoughts!
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SportsTranscript
00:00It's unbelievable how good this is.
00:02Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most shocking times
00:07athletes broke the rules at the Summer and Winter Olympics and the Paralympic Games.
00:11We'll explore the scandal they were involved with and the consequences they faced.
00:15There wasn't any test. That was exactly the problem.
00:20Number 30. The U.S. Men's 4x400m Team, Sydney 2000.
00:25At the Summer Games in 2000, the U.S. team knocked it out of the park by securing gold
00:30in the men's 4x400m relay. However, it was soon discovered that Jerome Young
00:36had tested positive for EPO, aka erythropoietin.
00:40It's huge, literally monstrous, with studies showing it boosting performance by 3 to 6%.
00:45Immediately, the team was stripped of their gold.
00:47Disqualified!
00:49However, after an appeal, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or CAS,
00:53stated that since Young didn't run in the final, his medal would be stripped,
00:57but the rest of the team could keep theirs.
01:00That lasted until 2008, when Antonio Pettigrew was discovered to have used substances between
01:051997 and 2003. The U.S. team was disqualified, with Nigeria taking their spot instead.
01:12Number 29. Kamila Valieva, Beijing 2022.
01:16At the 2022 Winter Olympics, the Russian Olympic Committee had 15-year-old Kamila
01:21Valieva on their figure skating team.
01:23She now owns the highest scores ever recorded in the short program, the free skate.
01:29She was a prodigy after breaking several world records in her relatively short career.
01:34But soon after winning gold in their team event,
01:37news came out that Valieva had tested positive for the banned heart medication,
01:40trimetazidine, which is used by athletes to increase endurance.
01:45It changes the way that the heart muscle metabolizes or gains its energy.
01:52During the investigation, the medal ceremony was delayed,
01:55and the CAS ruled in favor of Valieva competing in the women's single event in part due to her age,
02:00where she came in fourth. In 2024, the CAS deemed Valieva had broken the rules.
02:06They disqualified all her results from Beijing 2022,
02:10and banned her from competition for four years.
02:13We need to feel sympathy, however, for a generation of clean athletes
02:18who have been repeatedly defrauded, and for Kamila Valieva,
02:22a 15-year-old pawn in an evil dystopian system.
02:2628. Mikhail Aloyan, Rio 2016
02:30Also known as Misha Aloyan before changing his name,
02:33the Russian boxer was a specialist in the flyweight division.
02:36After all, he had won two golds at the IBA World Boxing Championships in 2011 and 2013.
02:43Aloyan of Russia is the world champion!
02:47In between those events, Aloyan competed at London 2012 and secured a bronze.
02:52At Rio 2016, he got to the final of the men's flyweight. However,
02:57Aloyan fell to Uzbekistan's Shakhbodin Zoyerov, getting himself a silver medal.
03:02Shortly after, he was found to have tested positive for the banned stimulant 2-aminoheptane,
03:07resulting in him being stripped of the medal.
03:09In 2017, Cass rejected Aloyan's appeal.
03:12Denied. Denied.
03:14He spent the rest of his career boxing professionally before retiring in 2022.
03:2027. Yenil Pershin, London 1948
03:23At the 1948 Summer Games, Yenil Pershin competed in the equestrian events,
03:28picking up a gold in the team dressage. But then, in 1949, the truth came out.
03:33I have a confession to make.
03:35At the time, the International Federation for Equestrian Sports had a rule that
03:39only commissioned army officers could participate. Weeks before the 1948 event,
03:44the Swedish star was temporarily promoted to lieutenant specifically so he could compete.
03:49Afterward, Pershin was demoted back to his sergeant ranking.
03:52Demoted.
03:53He was said to be in violation of the rules and disqualified. Only a few months later,
03:58however, the strict rule was changed to allow more people to take part in the future.
04:0426. Crystal Cox, Athens 2004
04:07While she didn't compete in the final of the women's 4x400 meters relay in Athens 2004,
04:13Crystal Cox helped get the United States team there after racing in their heat.
04:17Instead, DeeDee Trotter took her place as the team went on to win gold.
04:21It's hard as you can run as fast as you can run. You make yourself around that track.
04:25Afterward, Cox pivoted her career and signed up to be on Survivor.
04:29Crystal, good to talk to you.
04:31Good morning.
04:32In 2010, she admitted that between 2001 and 2004, she was using anabolic steroids to compete.
04:39The runner's records during that period were scrubbed,
04:42and she was banned from competition for four years.
04:45But there was the question of what to do with the relay team.
04:48In 2013, the International Olympic Committee, or IOC,
04:52and World Athletics let the women keep their golds, except for Cox.
04:56Good luck on your next endeavor.
04:58Okay, thank you.
04:5925. Nijat Rahimov, Rio 2016
05:03At the 2015 World Weightlifting Championships, Nijat Rahimov had a lot to prove after
05:09returning from a two-year suspension due to a failed substance test.
05:13Time for redemption.
05:15And he nailed it by taking gold in the 77-kilogram division.
05:19At the 2016 Olympics, Rahimov was set to represent
05:22Kazakhstan to replicate his performance once more in the same lifting class.
05:26Amazingly, not only did he take the gold, but he also smashed the world record.
05:31You've just set a new world record.
05:33After his celebratory dance, however, the legitimacy of his efforts was called into question.
05:38In 2021, it was announced that Rahimov had been charged with cheating after
05:43swapping his urine samples four times.
05:45In 2022, he was stripped of his gold and the world record, and subsequently banned for eight years.
05:51Eight years.
05:53Eight years.
05:5424. Jim Thorpe, Stockholm 1912
05:57We may never see an athlete as talented as Thorpe.
06:00Say the name Jim Thorpe, and many would argue you're talking about the greatest American athlete ever.
06:07Whether it was American football, basketball, baseball, or athletics,
06:10the Native American member of the Sac and Fox Nation was a force to be reckoned with.
06:15Famously, Thorpe competed at the 1912 Olympics in mismatched shoes after his were stolen.
06:21Regardless, he took gold in the men's pentathlon and decathlon.
06:24In 1913, it was discovered that Thorpe had received compensation for playing
06:29semi-professional baseball, which broke Olympic rules on amateurism at the time.
06:33Controversially, the IOC stripped him of his wins.
06:37Long considered one of the most controversial decisions in sports.
06:40In 1982, a campaign drove the IOC to reinstate Thorpe's wins posthumously,
06:45but he had to share it with the silver medalists.
06:48In 2022, the IOC voted, and Thorpe was given his legacy back as the sole winner.
06:5523. Cross-Country Cheating, Salt Lake City 2002
06:59Oh boy.
06:59The 2002 Winter Olympics for cross-country skiing was a mess with cheating.
07:04Cheating?
07:05Starting with the women.
07:06Russia's Olga Danilova and Larissa Lazutina, who had collected the top prize in the World
07:11Championships many times and had a host of medals from other Olympics.
07:15However, Danilova and Lazutina tested positive for darbopoetin,
07:19a substance used to increase red blood cell production.
07:22Your red blood cell count, it's high.
07:24Both were disqualified and banned for two years.
07:28For the men, Johan Mulek, who was representing Spain after having been part of Germany before,
07:33took gold three times.
07:34But after also testing positive for darbopoetin, his results were nullified too.
07:4022. Tunisian Modern Pentathlon Team, Rome 1960
07:45Debuting in the 1960 Summer Olympics,
07:48Tunisia probably had hopes of marking the occasion with some gold.
07:51That's gold, Jerry. Gold!
07:53But that hope was severely dented after the mass of misfortune during the Modern
07:57Pentathlon Men's Team event, which featured Lactar Bouzid, Habib Bin Azabi, and Ahmed Enachi.
08:03During the swimming event, one athlete needed assistance in the water.
08:07Then, one rider was thrown from their horse in the equestrian section.
08:11But they had a secret weapon for fencing.
08:13On guard!
08:14The story goes that one of them was an especially good swordsman,
08:17so they hoped the mask would disguise the fact they sent him out for each bout rather
08:22than switching between athletes. Obviously, that didn't work, and the Tunisian team was left in
08:26last place.
08:2821. Lance Armstrong, Sydney 2000
08:31In his prime, nobody could beat Armstrong when it came to cycling.
08:35I like to win. But more than anything, I can't stand the idea of losing,
08:39because to me that equals death.
08:41He was a machine who swept up seven consecutive Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005.
08:47In between that time, the U.S. cyclist competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics,
08:51securing himself a bronze in the men's road time trial.
08:54However, there were rumors Armstrong's success wasn't solely down to talent.
08:59In 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency formally charged the Livestrong
09:03creator with being involved in a rampant doping and trafficking program.
09:07I know what it took to win those tours. Okay, it was a little more detailed than
09:13we were told, or you guys were told.
09:15Armstrong was banned from competitive sport for life and stripped of all results after August
09:201998. In 2013, he shockingly confirmed it was true during an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
09:27I had it. And then it just...things got too big.
09:3220. Spyridon Balokas, Greece 1896
09:37During the first-ever international Olympics at the end of the 19th century,
09:41Greek athlete Spyridon Balokas didn't exactly welcome the incoming countries in a sportsmanlike
09:46fashion. For the men's marathon, Balokas came in third place at just over three hours,
09:51and just five seconds ahead of the Hungarian Gyula Kellner in fourth place.
09:55However, Kellner called out Balokas for having traveled part of the distance in a carriage.
10:00The formalized complaint was confirmed, and Balokas was retroactively disqualified,
10:05preventing a Greek sweep in the event.
10:0819. Hans Gunnar Liljenval, Mexico City, 1968
10:14Nowadays, it seems like every time an Olympic athlete gets in trouble,
10:17doping has something to do with it. That was unheard of, however, prior to the 1968 Games.
10:23Indeed, the summer edition was the first instance that doping tests were practiced.
10:28And wouldn't you know it, a disqualification followed.
10:31But maybe not for the reason you'd think. The Swedish team placed third in the pistol
10:35shooting event, but later had to return their bronze medals due to teammate Hans Gunnar
10:41drinking two beers prior to the event. This was, heretofore, a common way to calm nerves.
10:46Though alcohol may seem like the exact opposite of a dangerous performance-enhancing drug,
10:50given that it dulls the senses, clouds judgment, and is otherwise pretty safe in moderation,
10:55in the right quantities, there was, and still is, a popular idea that it gives one an advantage.
11:00Liljenval and the rest of his team may have needed to
11:02pound down a couple more after hearing the news.
11:05Setting a world record at the Olympics can often be the cherry on top of the Sunday that
11:09is winning gold. However, sometimes records ought to be displayed with a little asterisk next to
11:14them. At the 2012 Games in London, South African swimmer Cameron Vanderberg posted a new record
11:23for 100-meter breaststroke in the Olympic gold medal.
11:27At the 2012 Games in London, South African swimmer Cameron Vanderberg posted a new record
11:32for 100-meter breaststroke at just over 58 seconds. However, it's likely his time would
11:38have been higher had he not thrown some extra dolphin kicks in there. The rules permit for
11:42one kick, whereas underwater footage showed Vanderberg performing three. Vanderberg kept
11:48his medal, however, and justified the action by saying otherwise, quote,
11:52You are falling behind or giving yourself a disadvantage. Well, at least he was honest.
12:01Don't you just hate it when you cheat and aren't even aware of it? Well, that's exactly what
12:05happened to Andrea Raducan at the Sydney Games in 2000. The Romanian Raducan led her team to
12:10a gold medal and won a gold herself in the all-around competition, but was later stripped
12:15of the latter. Subsequent tests showed Raducan tested positive for the banned substance pseudoephedrine,
12:20which her team maintained came from the cold medicine prescribed by the team physician.
12:25Raducan was cleared of any wrongdoing, but the disqualification was never rescinded.
12:29Raducan went on to claim that, if anything, the medicine only hurt her performance
12:33and didn't help her.
12:40Honing your physicality to compete on the Olympic stage is a feat all its own,
12:44but controlling an animal is another thing entirely.
12:47Swedish horse rider Bertil Sandström had continued success at the Olympics,
12:51earning silver medals in 1920, 1924, and 1932 for various dressage events. However,
12:59the last of those competitions also saw Sandström disqualified in the individual event.
13:03Though he was lined up to earn his fourth silver medal, his placement was revoked with the revelation
13:09that he'd been using illegal clicking sounds to manipulate his horse, thus giving him an unfair
13:14advantage.
13:21This one happened back when there was an East Germany around to compete.
13:24During the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal, the bisected country surprised everyone when it
13:30came away with the second most gold medals at an even 40, with the women's swimming team alone
13:35nabbing a whopping 11. Such performances would make any nation proud. However, it was later
13:41revealed that scores of athletes across sports were being administered performance-enhancing
13:45substances.
14:01Apparently, this practice was encouraged and covered up for decades,
14:04with East German officials going so far as to dump the leftover drugs into the St. Lawrence River.
14:10Way to not look suspicious, guys.
14:17Norwegian Tony Andre Hansen had reason to complain when his horse Camiro was found to have the
14:22banned substance capsaicin in his urine. Hansen was then prohibited from competing in the individual
14:28jumping event, and the entire Norwegian team was subsequently stripped of their bronze medals in
14:33team jumping after another test proved positive. Hansen appealed twice to have the motion overturned,
14:39but was rejected both times. Camiro too was suspended for a period of time,
14:43but we don't want to put too much blame on him, considering he's a horse.
15:03At the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Irish swimmer Michelle Smith took home four gold medals
15:09and one bronze. Though she was never stripped of her medals, an investigation two years later
15:14by the International Swimming Federation saw her banned for four years for tampering with her urine
15:19sample with alcohol. Smith had reportedly tested positive for androstenedione, a precursor for
15:25testosterone, which itself wasn't even outlawed by the Olympic Committee until 1997. Smith made
15:31an appeal, but the ban was upheld, virtually ending her competitive swimming career at age 28.
15:39Sydney 2000
15:41In one of the biggest doping scandals in Olympics history, U.S. track and field star Marion Jones
15:46eventually saw the forfeiture of the three gold medals and two bronze she won at the 2000 Games
15:51in Sydney. In fact, allegations against Jones for doping go all the way back to her high school
15:57years in the early 1990s. Jones repeatedly denied these claims, and despite passing all prior drug
16:04tests, allegations swirled again when her ex-husband, shot-putter C.J. Hunter, who'd also
16:09admitted to using steroids, testified that Jones had been using EPO for years before and after the
16:15Sydney Games. Jones finally admitted to lying under oath about it, and even served six months
16:20in prison over the ordeal.
16:34Though this scandal certainly can't take away from Dong Fengxiao's athletic prowess,
16:38it did take away her bronze medal. After helping the Chinese gymnastics team place third,
16:44supposedly at the age of 17, Dong later registered as a technical official at the 2008 Games.
16:50The trouble was, her new certification's birth year clashed with the one from 2000,
16:55meaning she was actually 14 in Sydney, and two years too young to compete on the senior team.
17:01Fans have since been critical of underage athletes being pushed,
17:04as Dong's bone necrosis forced her to retire at just 15.
17:13We guess if you're the literal emperor of Rome, you can pretty much get away with anything,
17:17but history will still judge you when you're gone. Way, way, way back in 67 AD, Emperor Nero
17:25participated in the Olympic Games, only his performance was very unusual. After artistic
17:31sensibilities were incorporated into the athletic events, Nero did everything from singing to
17:36theater. Unsurprisingly, Nero won every event he participated in, including a chariot race
17:43that he quit after being thrown on the grounds that he would have won.
17:50Growing up, we all had that friend that we'd let win no matter what,
17:54and it sounds like Nero was that to all of Rome.
18:09Here's a story so dramatic, it inspired a film. Tanya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan were on the
18:14same team, but still had an intense rivalry. Before the 1994 U.S. Figure Skating Championships,
18:21Nancy Kerrigan was attacked by Shane Stant.
18:27He was contracted to break her knee by Sean Eckhart, an associate of Harding's then-husband
18:32Jeff Gillooly. The goal was to make sure Nancy couldn't compete so Tanya could claim gold at
18:37the championships and at the Winter Olympics.
18:51Nancy recovered and won silver in the Winter Olympics, while Tanya placed eighth.
18:56Harding later took a plea bargain by admitting to obstruction of justice
19:00and subsequently received a lifetime ban from the United States Figure Skating Association.
19:058. Ben Johnson – Seoul, 1988
19:16Ben Johnson was a star in the 1980s, winning medals, breaking records,
19:21and establishing himself as Canada's premier sprinter. Johnson then won the 100-meter dash
19:27at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but unfortunately there was a dark truth behind his success.
19:32Despite denying rumors for years that he was on performance-enhancing drugs,
19:36his urine tested positive, which he later confirmed.
19:45It was claimed that many athletes were using anabolic steroids at the time,
19:49and that Johnson just happened to get caught. He was stripped of his medals and world record,
19:55with many home supporters still wondering why he did it.
19:597. The Chinese, South Korean, and Indonesian Badminton Teams – London, 2012
20:08Not giving your all during an Olympic competition is actually against the rules,
20:13as we found out at the 2012 London Olympics. During the group stages of the women's badminton
20:19doubles tournament, the event became surrounded with controversy as multiple teams were accused
20:24of not using their best efforts. Actually, they allegedly started to
20:43purposefully lose matches so they could get easier matchups for the knockout stage.
20:55It got ridiculous, with teams making basic errors that were uncommon in professional sport.
21:11The three teams were ejected from the competition for,
21:14quote, conducting themselves in a way that was abusive and detrimental to the sport.
21:19I mean, who wants to sit through something like that?
21:22One could argue the tournament structure is more at fault,
21:25but that doesn't change what the rules were at the time.
21:286. The East Germany Luge Squad – Grenoble, 1968
21:33Named at the time as the world's most perfect female luger, East Germany's Enderlein was a
21:38favorite to win at the 1968 Winter Olympics in France. And she did win first place with surprising
21:44speed, as did her East German teammates, who won second and fourth place. But something seemed off.
21:51An event supervisor tested the Luge's steel blades with snow, which supposedly, quote,
21:56hissed and vaporized. The officials concluded that the sleigh had been heated to melt the
22:00track's ice and increase speed. The team was disqualified, but the incident has remained
22:05contentious, with some home officials claiming Enderlein's innocence, with rumors of intrigue
22:10behind the allegations. 5. Boris Onyshenko – Montreal, 1976
22:17A world-class pentathlete, you'd think that the USSR's Boris Onyshenko might have been able to
22:22win through skill alone. But it seems Boris wanted to be certain of victory. During his fencing bout
22:28against the British contender Jim Fox, the Brits noticed something was off. Boris was getting points
22:34without even touching his opponent. In electric épée fencing, a point is registered when the tip
22:40of the weapon is depressed with enough force to complete an electric circuit. However, his modified
22:59weapon had a switch on the blade that would complete the circuit without making contact,
23:03meaning he just had to make it look convincing. Once he was found out, his peers shunned him,
23:09he was stripped of his awards, and he was given a lifetime ban.
23:134. Madeline de Jesus – Los Angeles, 1984 Puerto Rican athlete Madeline de Jesus was
23:20competing in multiple events, but pulled her hamstring during the long jump. So instead of
23:25sacrificing the opportunity to compete in the 4x400 relay, she came up with something out of
23:30a movie plot. Margaret, her identical twin sister who was also an athlete, would swap outfits with
23:36her, allowing Margaret to compete in her place, and no one would be the wiser. And it worked,
23:42until Madeline's coach found out, and instead of going along with the ruse, he pulled the entire
23:47team from the event. Madeline and Margaret were banned from future international competitions,
23:52and their unknowing teammates also received a suspension.
23:553. Fred Lors – St. Louis, 1904 During the 1904 Summer Olympics,
24:02Frederick Lors was competing in the marathon. He ran the first 9 miles, but stopped from
24:07exhaustion. That's when his manager decided to give him a helping hand. Fred was driven the
24:12next 11 miles of the marathon, after which he continued on foot into the Olympic Stadium,
24:17and was greeted as the winner. Fred obviously knew this was pure cheating, but went along with it
24:23anyway, purportedly as a joke. He later confessed what had happened, and another runner was awarded
24:28the medal. 2. Russia's Doping Scandal – Sochi, 2014
24:42As we learned from the East Germans back in 1976, it's one thing for an athlete to cheat,
24:48but for an entire country to allegedly sponsor the cheating is quite another.
24:53After the 2014 Winter Olympics, a Russian state-sponsored doping scandal came to light,
24:58with many of their athletes actively participating in taking performance-enhancing drugs
25:03and attempting to hide that fact from screenings.
25:22Once discovered, Russia as a whole was temporarily banned from future Olympic games.
25:29Though some of the disqualifications were nullified and some medals returned,
25:41the fallout from the investigation was, needless to say, extensive.
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26:011. The Spanish Paralympics Basketball Team – Sydney, 2000
26:15During the 2000 Sydney Paralympics, there was more concern for doping than finding out if
26:21athletes were actually legitimate Paralympians. So Fernando Martín Vicente,
26:25the head of the Spanish Federation of Sportspeople with Intellectual Disabilities,
26:30had an idea. A terrible idea. The team recruited players who faked having an intellectual
26:36disability. They went on to win gold by a huge margin, and Spain celebrated. But one of the
26:42players was an investigative journalist. Carlos Ribagorda blew the whistle on the entire scheme.
26:48The team was disqualified, and Vicente resigned.
26:51Which sport would you like to see in the Winter or Summer Olympic Games?
26:55E-sports? Darts? Dodgeball? Or something else? Let us know below.
26:59If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.
27:02What?
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