Haven't these athletes ever heard the saying "Cheaters will inevitably end up on a WatchMojo list"? Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most notorious cheating scandals in sports history.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00No questions about anything that's going on.
00:02Under orders from her lawyers, Harding refuses to talk about allegations made by her bodyguard
00:07that she helped plan the attack against Kerrigan.
00:10Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most
00:14notorious cheating scandals in sports history.
00:18I kind of know that people do steroids.
00:20Well, you look at these people and you say, well, why do they look that way?
00:25Number 20, Mike Tyson.
00:27Was that just kind of a place where you just went and you kind of hit a wall,
00:30or if you had a chance to do it over again, would you do it over again?
00:33No, yeah, I'd probably do the same thing, because he was really kicking my ass.
00:36It was June 28th, 1997, and heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield was getting in the ring with
00:43the number one contender, Mike Tyson.
00:45The fight was highly anticipated and served as a rematch of an earlier bout,
00:50which Holyfield won via TKO in the 11th.
00:54The second fight was largely dominated by Holyfield,
00:57who was controlling Tyson with sharp punches and smart movement.
01:01Tyson grew increasingly frustrated until he bit a chunk out of Holyfield's ear.
01:07But here's where it gets even crazier.
01:10After the officials gave Tyson a stern warning, he did it again.
01:14Referee Mills Lane finally stopped the madness and disqualified Tyson,
01:19putting an end to what many consider the most bizarre fight in boxing history.
01:3219. Thierry Henry
01:41The stakes are high.
01:43France and Ireland are battling it out in a World Cup qualification playoff,
01:47and the winner gets a ticket to the big tournament in South Africa.
01:51The match has gone into extra time, and the teams deadlocked 1-1 on aggregate.
01:57That's when France's Thierry Henry controls the ball not once, but twice,
02:03with his hand before passing to William Gellis, who scores and wins the game for France.
02:09They go to the World Cup, and Ireland is sent packing.
02:12Henry later admitted to handling the ball and even stated that the fairest solution
02:17would be to replay the game, but this came after FIFA had already ruled out a rematch.
02:24The damage was done, and Henry's reputation was in tatters.
02:3518. Marion Jones
02:38A celebrated track and field athlete, Marion Jones was a superstar of the 2000 Sydney Olympics,
02:53winning a total of five medals, three of them gold.
02:58Enter the Balco scandal, which saw the feds investigating the Bay Area Laboratory cooperative
03:03for providing steroids to athletes.
03:06The founder of Balco tells ABC that he had personally provided Jones with steroids,
03:11and others testify that she had been taking them, including reporters and even Jones' ex-husband.
03:18After years of denial, Jones finally admits that, yep, she'd been using performance-enhancing drugs
03:24all along, including during those triumphant Sydney Olympics.
03:28The IOC strips her of her medals, she's banned from the sport,
03:32and she even goes in the can for six months for lying to federal investigators.
03:4917. Felipe Almonte
03:59First time in 54 years we have a Little League World Series perfect game, how about it?
04:05It was the 2001 Little League World Series,
04:08and there's a new phenomenon named Danny Almonte on the mound.
04:12He is absolute fire, throwing 70 miles an hour, striking out 86% of the batters he faced,
04:19and even throwing a perfect game.
04:22Reporters called him a baseball sensation, while others raised their eyebrows.
04:27A team from Staten Island hired a private investigator to look into Almonte,
04:31and officials started digging into his past.
04:34They found out that he was actually 14 years old, not 12, and therefore too old for the league.
04:41Danny was cleared of wrongdoing, as he was reportedly unaware of the deception.
04:46Blame instead went to his father, Felipe.
04:48He was banned from the Little League and charged with falsifying a birth certificate.
04:5716. The CCNY Point Shaving Scandal
05:05College basketball was nearly ruined forever in 1951,
05:10thanks to the infamous CCNY scandal.
05:13Some background.
05:14Point shaving is when players collude with gamblers to fix the score of a game,
05:18often for the price of a bribe.
05:21And while this scandal is named for the City College of New York,
05:24it actually involved seven American schools.
05:28The scandal blew up in 1951 when a police investigation busted the scheme
05:32and accused dozens of players of point shaving.
05:36Many of the accused received lifetime bans from the sport of basketball,
05:40and some even went to prison.
05:41It also charged the entire landscape of college basketball, resulting in stricter rules,
05:47more oversight, and a big push to keep corruption out of the game.
05:5215. Antonio Margarito
06:02This tough-as-nails Mexican boxer was known for his relentless pressure
06:07and brutal punching power.
06:08Power that may have come from somewhere else.
06:12Margarito was poised to fight Shane Mosley for the WBA welterweight title,
06:16but Mosley's trainer noticed that Margarito had some kind of mystery substance in his hand wraps.
06:23Upon further study, it was found to be calcium sulfate,
06:27which forms a hard plaster-like material when combined with moisture.
06:31Yep, he was essentially boxing with casts on his hands.
06:36Margarito's hands were rewrapped, and he subsequently lost the fight,
06:41and later investigations unearthed similar clues in earlier matches,
06:45leading some to conclude that he had been cheating all along.
07:0014. East Germany at the 1976 Summer Olympics
07:05The Montreal Olympics were dominated by East Germany,
07:16a fact that surprised everyone and gave rise to more than a few vocal critics.
07:22The small country finished second in the medal tally and utterly dominated in women's swimming,
07:27winning all but two events.
07:29Observers at the time were deeply suspicious of this performance,
07:33and their suspicions were validated when the truth eventually came out.
07:38You see, in the years leading up to the Olympics, East Germany implemented a government-run program
07:44aimed at enhancing the performance of its athletes with steroids and other PEDs.
07:50They pumped their athletes with drugs and then dumped the surplus needles into the St. Lawrence
07:55River. How symbolic is that?
08:0713. Ben Johnson
08:10The urine sample of Ben Johnson was found to contain the metabolites of a banned substance,
08:18namely stanozolol.
08:20It's always a shame when huge accomplishments are overshadowed by controversy.
08:25During the 1988 Summer Olympics, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson won the 100m and beat
08:31his own world record with an astounding finish of 9.79 seconds.
08:36It was one of the most thrilling and unforgettable moments in Olympic history.
08:41Of course, he was doping the entire time.
08:44Yep, just a few days later, his urine tested positive for the banned substance stanozolol,
08:50and both his gold medal and world record were stripped.
08:54To make matters even worse, Johnson also admitted to using steroids for the first world record run,
09:00so that was rescinded as well.
09:03His career never recovered, and he was banned for life after testing positive yet again in 1993.
09:1912. Rosie Ruiz
09:28It was the 84th rendition of the popular Boston Marathon.
09:32Professional runners were grinding through miles of sweat and determination when this random,
09:37unknown woman named Rosie Ruiz wins the race.
09:41Not only that, but she sets the record for the fastest time ever for a female runner
09:46in the Boston Marathon.
09:48And not only that, but she sets the third fastest female time in any marathon.
09:54Ever.
09:54Well, it didn't take long for people to notice that she wasn't sweating.
09:58Her legs weren't muscular, and no one could recall seeing her during the race.
10:03Turns out, she jumped into the course about half a mile from the finish line
10:08and fooled everyone into thinking she was a masterful runner.
10:11Masterful troll more like.
10:2011. Tim Donahue
10:28This basketball referee worked in the NBA for 13 seasons,
10:34officiating well over 700 games.
10:37All that down the toilet to make a little bit of money.
10:40You see, Donahue attracted the attention of the FBI,
10:44who began looking into his career and personal life.
10:47They uncovered a shocking truth.
10:50Donahue was using his inside information and knowledge to bet on games.
10:54But gets even worse.
10:56Donahue officiated some of the games that he bet on
10:59and made allegedly bogus calls to direct the outcome of the game.
11:03He had been doing this for a number of years and eventually pleaded guilty to conspiracy
11:07to engage in wire fraud and transmitting wagering information through interstate commerce.
11:13He was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison.
11:2510. Bill Belichick
11:27It was one of the biggest stories in sports.
11:30The New England Patriots caught videotaping a rival team's coaches
11:34as they sent signals to their players.
11:36Widely considered one of the best coaches in football history,
11:39Bill Belichick's career is firmly set in stone.
11:43Minus one little hiccup.
11:46Spygate.
11:47During the 2007 season, Belichick and his New England Patriots
11:51were caught videotaping the opposing team's defensive signals.
11:55According to NFL rules, teams could not use video equipment
11:59to capture opposing coaches' signals from their own sidelines.
12:03As such, Belichick was personally fined $500,000,
12:07which was the largest fine ever levied on a coach,
12:10and the Pats were stripped of their 2008 first-round draft pick.
12:14The controversy also raised questions about how much the Patriots' dominance
12:18during the early 2000s was owed to illegal taping practices.
12:339. Luis Resto
12:40Sometimes cheating has consequences that extend beyond the sport itself.
12:44In 1983, Puerto Rican boxer Luis Resto beat the undefeated Billy Collins Jr.
12:51via unanimous decision.
12:53Collins took a brutal beating and by the end of the fight,
12:56his face was an unrecognizable mess.
12:59After the match, it was discovered that Resto's trainer had removed the padding
13:03from his gloves and soaked his hand wraps in plaster.
13:06This created vicious and highly illegal punches,
13:10and Collins suffered a torn iris.
13:12This injury resulted in permanently blurred vision,
13:15and he died less than a year later in a car accident.
13:18Many suspect that he took his own life.
13:21Resto served two and a half years in prison for assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
13:368. The Houston Astros
13:43The 2017 baseball season belonged to the Houston Astros.
13:48They finished first in the AL West with a fantastic record of 101-61,
13:54and they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the club's first-ever World Series title.
13:58It was a great underdog story, and it remained as such until 2019 when the Atlantic broke it open.
14:06Turns out the Astros had been illegally capturing the signs given by the official
14:11The players would watch this live feed and give various audio cues to the batter
14:16to signal which pitch was coming, the most famous of which is a banging trash can.
14:21The team was ultimately fined the maximum penalty of $5 million,
14:25and their manager A.J. Hinch was suspended for one year and fired.
14:31Several players were interviewed by the league,
14:33but none would reveal the mastermind of this garbage can scheme.
14:387. Frederick Lors
14:40The men's marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics is perhaps the funniest comedy of errors
14:46in sporting history. Cars kicked dust into the athletes' mouths, runners had to dodge moving
14:52trains, one was hallucinating on rat poison which was given as a stimulant, and another took a nap
14:58after wandering off course and eating some rotten apples. And then there's Frederick Lors.
15:04Just as he was being congratulated by Alice Roosevelt, people accused him of cheating.
15:10Yep, he hitched a ride to the finish line, even waving to spectators as he passed.
15:16He immediately admitted to cheating, and that's the story of the men's
15:20marathon at the 1904 Summer Olympics. 6. Diego Maradona
15:27Diego Maradona was a player for Argentina who was facing England in the quarterfinals
15:34of the 1986 World Cup. Six minutes into the second half, Maradona punched a ball into the net to put
15:40his team up 1-0. Despite this being a flagrant foul, the goal was still a goal.
15:46The goal was to score the first goal of the match, but the goalkeeper didn't
15:51into the net to put his team up 1-0. Despite this being a flagrant foul,
15:56the goal was allowed to stand as the officials did not see him handle the ball.
16:01Argentina won the game 2-1, and Maradona slyly commented on the controversial goal,
16:06saying it was made with the hand of God. He later admitted outright that he had handled the ball
16:12and claimed that it was revenge for England's victory over Argentina in the Falklands War.
16:185. The 1919 Chicago White Sox
16:30Baseball was absolutely enormous in the early 20th century,
16:35but its integrity was nearly ruined following the 1919 World Series.
16:39The heavily favored White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds, leading to rumors that the
16:44games had been fixed. Indeed, several players had conspired with gamblers to deliberately lose
16:50games in exchange for bribes. Many believe that organized crime was behind the ploy,
16:56specifically Jewish mob kingpin Arnold Rothstein. The National Baseball Commission was dissolved in
17:03shame, and eight White Sox players were indicted for conspiracy to defraud. One of them was the
17:09famous Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was subsequently banned from baseball and made ineligible for the
17:16Hall of Fame. 4. The MLB Steroid Era
17:39Nestled between the late 1980s and early 2000s is baseball's steroid era. So named because,
17:49well, you can probably guess. Many stars of this time have admitted to doping,
17:55including Ken Caminiti, Alex Rodriguez, and Jose Canseco. In fact, the latter wrote a book titled
18:02Juiced, in which he claims that up to 80% of all Major League Baseball players are on steroids.
18:08Perhaps the biggest symbol of this era is the 1998 home run record chase, in which Mark Maguire
18:15and Sammy Sosa battled to beat the record of 61 home runs in a season. Maguire ultimately won
18:22and shattered the record with 70 home runs. Guess what? Yep, juiced to the gills.
18:29They all did it, right? Mark Maguire, Sammy Sosa, they were all on the sauce.
18:383. The Spanish Paralympians
18:51The 2000 Sydney Olympics were marred by controversy,
18:55and that reputation extended to the Paralympics. One of the sports was Basketball ID, an event for
19:01intellectually disabled athletes with an IQ less than 75. Spain destroyed the competition,
19:09being the only undefeated team in beating Russia in the finals by over 20 points. The truth was
19:14unveiled when an undercover reporter playing with the team revealed that most of the athletes were
19:20not actually disabled. It was later confirmed that 10 of the 12 competitors were not disabled,
19:26that the Spanish Paralympic Committee did not perform the necessary IQ tests,
19:31and that non-disabled athletes were intentionally signed up with the intention of winning medals
19:37and gaining sponsorships. Well, that backfired.
19:502. Tonya Harding
19:59American figure skater Tonya Harding was poised to compete at both the U.S. Figure Skating
20:04Championships and the Winter Olympics, a dream harbored by many budding athletes around the
20:09country. Unfortunately, she threw it all away. On January 6, 1994, Harding's rival Nancy Kerrigan
20:18was assaulted by a man who struck her on the knee with a baton. This man was Shane Stant,
20:24who had been hired by Harding's husband, Jeff Gallulli. The hope was that the injury would
20:29sideline Kerrigan, thereby improving Harding's chances in the competition. Harding publicly
20:34denied knowledge of the attack, but she later admitted to covering it up, and Gallulli insists
20:40that she was directly involved in its planning. Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our
20:55channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos. You have the option to be
21:00notified for occasional videos or all of them. If you're on your phone, make sure you go into
21:04your settings and switch on notifications. 1. Lance Armstrong
21:22Ask any person on the street to name a famous cheater, and chances are they'll say Lance
21:28Armstrong. Who was once the poster boy for cycling is now the poster boy for doping,
21:34having been busted in 2012 and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles. Rumors of Armstrong's
21:40cheating date all the way back to the late 90s, but he repeatedly denied the accusations.
21:46Regardless, the US anti-doping agency uncovered evidence of a sophisticated drug program run by
21:52Armstrong and accused him of taking multiple PEDs throughout the course of his career. He was banned
21:58from cycling in order to pay $5 million in restitution, and that's not counting the personal
22:04cost of his tarnished reputation. Can you think of any more famous cheaters?
22:15Let us know in the comments below.
22:34Transcribed by https://otter.ai