Although Thierry Henry’s handball left every football fan of the Republic of Ireland and most of the neutral fans burning with anger, it is no match compare to the following five frauds committed in the exciting and adrenaline high world of sports:
1. Spanish Paralympic Basketball Team
This incident is considered as one of the worst cheats that ever happened in the history of sports. The 2000 Sydney Paralympics was not a complete disaster for the Spanish Team. In fact, they received quite a number of remarkable medals-gold in Gymnastics, Cycling, and Judo; 3 silvers that include a significant runner up spot in football; and 5 bronze. All these seemed to be a sensible achievement for many nations but it was the gold they didn’t get that will be remembered for the longest time.
An undercover journalist competed alongside them and rumbled Spain’s paralympic basketball team. Carlo Ribagorda revealed that official tests to establish intellectual disability had not been carried out and also claimed that teams in track and filed, swimming, and table tennis might also be ineligible on the same grounds.
An investigation was carried out based on the said accusations, which showed a shocking 10 out of 12 members of the squad were in fact, intellectually disabled. The scandal led the International Paralympic Committee to suspend eligibility based on intellectual disability and finally introduced new criteria. As a result, the Spanish team was stripped off of all their gold medals, which were retrospectively awarded to runner up Canada.
2. Panama Lewis
Not to be left out as one of the most shocking sports scandal is the case of boxing coach Carlos ‘Panama’ Lewis.
Despite still being a notable trainer of today, Lewis’ career will forever be remembered for one terrible cheating incident that took place in 1983. Lewis was the one responsible for the preparation of the Panamian hard man Luis Resto for his fight with the highly promising and undefeated Billy Collins Jr.
Lewis’ preparations involved the removal of the padding from Resto’s gloves and soaking his taped hands in plaster of Paris. This resulted in an inevitable ten of the most brutal boxing rounds ever witnessed. Nevertheless, Collins tenacity over him, surviving the hammering Resto meted out with literally hands of stone serves as tribute to him up to these days.
As expected, Resto won a unanimous points decision over Collins who after the fight was nothing so much as disfigured. His shameful plot was only revealed when he made a mistake of giving handshakes to Collins’ father and corner man Billy Collins Sr.
Billy Collins Jr. suffered permanent eye damage that ended his boxing career. A few years later, he was killed in a car crash that his father claimed as suicide. Resto and Lewis received custodial sentences respectively.
3. Tonya Harding
Tonya Harding’s name has become synonymous with cheating. Her rivalry with Nancy Kerrigan reached a magnificent climaxed during the 1994 Olympic games run-up.
A national champion, Harding and her husband hired Shane Stant who assaulted Kerrigan, which placed her in the hospital for severe knee injuries.
She denied involvement in the incident but the courts did not believe her and instead sentenced her three years probation period, 500 hours of community service, and a $160,000 fine.
Fortunately, Kerrigan recovered in time for the games and went on to claim a silver medal whilst Harding finished on the eight spot.
Michel Pollentier
It is understandable that everyone gets “the stage fight” every now and then. But Michel Pollienters 1978 Tour de France actions in the dope test don’t count at all.
Pollentier had stormed into the race leader’s yellow jersey with a remarkable victory on L’Alpe d’Huez. It was the same stage though that would also ruin him. Stage winners at the Le Tour always hauled into the dope control and Pollentier thought he had foolproof system to get past the urine test undetected.
He attempted to give sample urine with the use of a condom filled with “clean” urine and a pipe secured between his legs to simulate urination. It was however preempted when another rider who also attempted to do the same trick had problems with his apparatus causing the doctors to discover both of their deception.
On a lighter note, an unconfirmed story says that given that Pollentier used his wife’s urine, not only did the sample revealed that he was drug-free, but also pregnant.
David Robertson
Since golf is a sport largely governed by self-regulation, ‘gamesmanship’ and cheating are often closely knitted. Therefore, anyone who has stepped on the links may find it difficult to be too critical of Robertson.
Officials disqualified Robertson in the 1985 Open in Deal, Kent on the grounds of ‘failure to replace his ball in the correct position’. Quite an unremarkable effort as it may seem, Robertson made the list due to the cleverness and sheer boldness of his methods.
Most likely whilst exerting some effort, Robertson arrived on the green first and crouch mark his ball. But what he did was pick up the ball and having balanced his marker on the end of the putter, he just merely deposited the marker elsewhere on the green. He was accused of moving the ball up to 20 feet in some instances.
As a result, the PGA European Tour banned him from playing as a pro for 20 years and slapped him with a £20,000 fine.
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