Sports Scandals That Rocked The Globe

Over the years, plenty of sports scandals from Lance Armstrong’s scandal to Tiger Woods, O.J. Simpson and Maria Sharapova have captured the media’s attention. Many fans have been completely shocked to see their favorite professional athletes partaking in very offensive, illegal and morally reprehensible actions. Naturally, their behavior not only affected their teams and fans, but the sports culture in general. The world of sports has forever been altered after these huge, unforgettable scandals. From doping incidents to behavior off the field/court, nowadays, athletes are not exempt from legal repercussions for their behavior. Well, in theory, they aren’t exempt from the law. However, some still feel that many athletes are unfairly privileged when being prosecuted. Professional athletes are so talented and respected, it’s hard to remember they’re humans too. Many put their favorite athletes on a pedestal. While others want to set aside the personal and professional, in order to enjoy the sports without worrying whether each player is clean of scandal. Nowadays, it seems almost every major athlete has gotten themselves caught up in some sort of scandal.

Sometimes, the intense competition, especially in the Olympics, can heighten the pressures on athletes and is a factor leading to these unfortunate incidents. After these huge scandals, many athletes have been fined, forced to give up titles/awards, and even served time in jail. Whether the punishment fit the crime isn’t for us to decide. We’re just here to recap the scandal and the aftermath. Other times it hasn’t even been about the competition and winning. For some of these scandals, the athletes have acted in atrocious ways off the court. Perhaps, believing their star status could make them exempt from punishment. However, fans were not pleased at all with their illegal behavior in these circumstances. You probably remember many of these high-profile cases like Kobe Bryant’s and a few NFL players’ as well. Yet, some claim that new research into the NFL’s contact sport nature reveals severe consequences to playing the game for years, such as brain damage. This brain damage may have been a contributing factor in off-field crimes committed by troubled players. We have gathered a list of the biggest sports scandals to ever come out. Of course, every time a scandal comes to light, these athletes’ public image is forever altered. Not many can forget such enormous scandals as these.

Lance Armstrong

Maybe Lance Armstrong is the first athlete that comes to mind when you hear about ‘doping.’ This 7 time winner of the Tour de France admitted during his 2013 interview with Oprah to using performance-enhancing drugs.

The American Anti-Doping Agency had discovered his abuse and thus, Lance Armstrong was stripped of all titles. He even needed to pay part of that $30 million federal government sponsorship he got. Pretty huge, we’d say!

Barry Bonds

One of baseball’s greatest, Barry Bonds, was the subject of scandal when this San Francisco Giants player was accused of using steroids. Bonds was tied to the BALCO steroids scandal, but claimed he didn’t know the substances were banned.

Back in 2007 he was indicted and convicted in 2011, but the charges were dropped and the initial conviction overturned in 2015. He was never even suspended from the MLB. However, when he was up for the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018, he was not elected in.

Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan

Not only do most people remember this incident, but with the recent film, I, Tonya, younger generations are also aware of the figure skating scandal. Leading up to the 1994 Olympics, Tonya Harding’s ex-husband and others attacked her competitor, Nancy Kerrigan. Surprisingly, Kerrigan wound up taking home silver in the Olympics, while Tonya Harding finished in eighth.

However, the recent film starring Margot Robbie sheds a new light on the story. It paints Tonya Harding differently than the way the media had during the incident, as a villain.

Ryan Lochte

When the Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, who has won 12 medals, was competing in the 2016 Rio games, something very suspicious happened. Lochte, along with three team members, said they got robbed at gunpoint one night. However, the Brazilian police investigation revealed that he was actually lying.

Once footage was recovered, it showed the Olympians vandalizing the gas station and fighting. Thus, Ryan Lochte got suspended for 10 months and his teammates for four months.

Russia Banned From Olympics

Of course, many are talking about Russia for a different scandal, but we’re here to talk about the 2016 Olympics. Remember when basically the entire Russian Olympics team was banned from competing? Yeah, it was pretty big news. After the World Anti-Doping Agency found crazy amounts of performance enhancing drug use after Grigory Rodchenkov, who headed the Russian’s anti-doping laboratory came forward.

In addition, Richard McLaren who investigated the Russian’s doping published his report that found over 1,000 Russians in various sports from 2011 to 2015 who were part of the country’s doping cover-up and benefited.

Mike Tyson

Back in June of 1997, boxers Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield faced off. Well, you probably remember what happened that fateful night.

Yes, Mike Tyson bit off his opponent’s ear and got banned and fined $3 million dollars. Then, Adam Sandler even wrote a song about it…

Bloodgate

Maybe you haven’t heard of this one but this British rugby scandal is unprecedented. The Harlequins’ Tom Williams had a fake blood capsule that he used in 2009 during their quarter finals’ game against Leinster. With ten minutes left, he used the capsule to fake a blood injury and have a replacement brought on. Even the team doctor was involved.

The doctor tried to cut Williams’ mouth afterwards to cover up their fake capsule. As a result, the head coach, Dean Richards, was banned from rugby for three years and even fined £260,000.

Black Sox Scandal

For this one, we’re taking it back to the 1919 World Series where the Cincinnati Reds and White Sox faced off. This became known as the Black Sox Scandal. Eight players were banned from the MLB for life because they purposely lost the game. Apparently, it was Arnold Gandil or “Chick” who led this conspiracy to throw the game and take the bet money.

This scandal is the story the movie, Eight Men Out is based on and led to a debate over whether “Shoeless” Joe Jackson could be in the MLB Hall of Fame.

Floyd Landis

Now, this American cyclist actually even led to the eventual uncovering of Lance Armstrong’s doping scandal. Anyway, Floyd Landis was pretty far behind during the 2006 Tour de France in stage 16, but somehow, make a remarkable come back in the next round. That’s when people first suspected doping.

His urine test results confirmed doping and led to the uncovering of the wider doping scandal at hand. Landis accused Lance Armstrong of doping.

Spanish Paralympic Basketball Team

Apparently, cheating in the Paralympics is a more common occurrence than people thought. During the 2000 Paralympic’s, the Spanish basketball team was discovered that they cheated in order to win the gold medal. Thanks to a Spanish journalist, it was discovered that most of the team weren’t checked as to whether they had a mental disability.

After the investigation, they found 10 of the 12 basketball players were in fact, not mentally disabled. Sounds similar to the plot of Johnny Knoxville’s The Ringer.

SMU Death Penalty

Southern Methodist University or SMU was giving huge amounts of money to their players from both the college and boosters. When this was uncovered in 1986, they found this violation of the NCAA rules had been going on for 16 years. For the first and only time in history, the NCAA gave SMU the death penalty for the 1987 season, where the team couldn’t play any games.

Then the following year, they didn’t even have enough players to form a team, so didn’t play that season either. From then on for 20 years, SMU didn’t have one winning season.

Reggie Bush

Most NFL fans remember when Reggie Bush was drafted as No. 2 overall and basically, dominated the game as the USC Trojans’ running back. However, after the draft some intense allegations surfaced that Bush got money and gifts from boosters. Eventually, he even gave up his Heisman Trophy.

The NCAA also ended up taking away USC’s championship trophy and wins for the 2004-5 NFL season.

Spygate

In 2007 the Jets complained to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that the Patriots had been filming their signals from their defensive coordinator during a game. It was uncovered that the allegations were true. However, Bill Belichick claimed he misinterpreted the rules, but was fined $500,000.

In addition, it was discovered they filmed a Rams’ practice back in 2000. The scandal became known as Spygate and forever stained the Patriots’ reputation.

Tim Donaghy

After this sports scandal, Tim Donaghy became the most notorious referee in NBA and perhaps, sports history. He would bet on games he was reffing and call them accordingly.

It was the sports gambling expert, R.J. Bell who tracked Donaghy’s games over the five year period from 2003 to 2007. He even concluded, based on the Las Vegas sports books, the points the teams involved scored and points discrepancies that, there was “a 99.9 percent chance that these results would not have happened without an outside factor.”

O.J. Simpson

Well, if the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit. Who doesn’t know the story of O.J. Simpson and the infamous scandal of whether he did or did not kill his wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and another man. Of course, O.J. Simpson was a famous NFL running back and no one could watch television in 1994 without hearing about the ongoing murder trial.

It was the biggest news story involving an athlete at the time and probably in history. Though, he was found not guilty, many still believe he committed the crime and it doesn’t help that he wrote a book afterwards called If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.

Rick Pitino

In late 2017, The University of Louisville fired coach Rick Pitino in light of the Louisville scandal. The FBI has been looking into how colleges recruit players. Louisville specifically has been implicated in this nonlegal tactics and Rick Pitino was accused of being aware that Adidas paid $100,000 to recruit Brian Bowen’s family in order to get him to commit to the school.

Pitino denies any foul play saying, “In 40 years of coaching, I have never been involved, directly or indirectly, in any effort to pay any money or extend any improper benefit to any recruit or recruit’s family members or representatives.” Pitino filed a lawsuit against Louisville for the rest of his contract money, $36 million.

Ray Rice

Back in 2014, this Baltimore Ravens player was arrested and charged for assaulting his fiancee. There was even shocking video footage of him dragging her out of a hotel elevator. In addition, there was a video of him punching her. Thus, the Ravens cut him and NFL even suspended him indefinitely.

However, the NFL investigation was so mishandled that the commissioner Roger Goodell apologized and overhauled the NFL’s official domestic violence policy. Even though Rice appealed the decision in federal court, he hasn’t played football since being let go in 2014.

Aaron Hernandez

In 2013, the New England Patriots’ tight end, Aaron Hernandez got charged for the murder of a semi-pro player who was dating the sister of his fiancée. Once he was arrested, the Patriots cut him.

In 2015, he was found guilty and faced a life sentence without parole. During that trial he was also indicted for a double homicide, but acquitted in 2017 after a trial. Only days after being acquitted, they found him dead in his prison cell. Hernandez had committed suicide.

Jovan Belcher

Former Kansas City Chiefs lineback, Jovan Belcher made headlines with this tragic tale. On December 1, 2012, he murdered his girlfriend and then drove to the Chiefs’ training facility with a handgun. He then committed suicide.

This led to a nation-wide debate on gun control. In addition, a 2014 report claimed he suffered from a degenerative disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which is linked to head trauma. Now, many former NFL players have been diagnosed with this disease, which is concerning people across the nation.

Marion Jones

Back during the 2000 Sydney games, this Olympian used steriods. Marion Jones not only got stripped of her titles, but she was sentenced to 6 months in jail since Jones lied to federal agents. Marion Jones became one of the most famous athletes associated with the BALCO scandal.

Nowadays, she is a public speaker who lectures on her mistakes. She also wrote On the Right Track: From Olympic Downfall to Finding Forgiveness and the Strength to Overcome and Succeed.

Ray Lewis

Back in 2000, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis pled guilt to obstructing justice in the case of two stabbing deaths. These deaths happened after Super Bowl XXXIV. The two men were stabbed during a fight with Lewis and his friends in Atlanta, Georgia.

Lewis went on to win NFL Defensive Player of the Year the next season. He was fined $250,000 but not suspended from the NFL. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018, his first eligible year.

Danny Almonte

Danny Almonte went on to become an assistant coach at James Monroe High School, but he made history for a huge scandal. Actually, it became the biggest scandal ever in Little League baseball. Many say it cost him a potential outstanding career in the MLB.

Anyway, Almonte dominated the Little League World Series back in 2001, but he had lied about his age. He was three years older than he claimed to be, which makes all the difference at that age.

Nelson Piquet Jr.

Now, this definitely sounds like Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in Talladega Nights. Anyway, it was discovered that Brazilian driver Nelson Piquet Jr. crashed his car during the 14th lap of Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore in 2008 on purpose. Nelson had crashed in order to help Fernando Alonso, his teammate, win.

Later when Nelson left the team, he revealed to the FIA that his couch asked him to do this. This incident became known as “Crashgate.” He went on to race for NASCAR. Yes, his father is the 3 time Formula One world champ, Nelson Piquet.

Rosie Ruiz

What’s more exciting for Boston locals than the famous Boston Marathon? Well, some people really can’t handle the pressures of the competition.

Back in 1980, an investigation revealed that Rosie Ruiz, a Cuban/American runner who won the race had cheated. Apparently, Ruiz used a shortcut to win. Thus, they stripped her of her title.

Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze

Back in 2002, a huge scandal erupted after a French judge rigged the Salt Lake City Olympics’ pair figure skating finals. This particular judge made sure to favor Russian competitors, Anton Sikharulidze and Elena Berezhnaya over the Canadian skaters, David Pelletier and Jamie Salé.

Upon the discovery, Salé and Pelletier ended up sharing the Gold with Sikharulidze and Berezhnaya. Hey, at least they were all good sports about it!

Kobe Bryant

One of the best NBA players of all time, Kobe Bryant found himself at the center of a scandal in 2003. A 19 year old employee from a Colorado hotel accused the athlete of rape. Eventually, the case was dismissed because the victim did not want to testify.

Thus, they settled the civil suit out of court. This case affected Bryant’s public image and even caused Nutella and McDonald’s to drop his endorsement deals. When he won an Oscar in 2018 for a short film on basketball, many responded with outrage considering his past scandal.

Michael Vick

In 2007, quarterback Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons got sentenced to 23 months in prison. You probably remember this well, but he was indicted for his connection to a dogfighting operation in Virginia.

Vick was released from prison by 2009. However, his reputation would never recover from this scandal.

Pete Rose

Former MLB’s all time hits leader was managing the Cincinnati Reds when it was discovered that Pete Rose was illegally betting on the games.

Yes, even the games that his own team played! Rose was fired and thrown out of the MLB. In addition, the MLB Hall of Fame won’t even consider the former player for induction.

Alex Rodriguez

Alex Rodriguez or A-Rod was yet another MLB player to be found using performance-enhancing drugs. In 2013, he was accused of buying special human growth hormones and other performance-enhancing drugs.

He got suspended for 162 games. A year later, he admitted to taking the drugs while federal agents were interviewing him.

Donald Sterling

Back in 2014, Donald Sterling got caught making racist comments on tape. Apparently, he was criticizing his mistress, V.

Stiviano for posting photos of herself with African American athletes like Matt Kemp and Magic Johnson. Thus, he got banned from attending any NBA game ever and also was forced to sell his NBA team, the LA Clippers.

Tom Brady

During the 2014/5 playoffs, the New England Patriots got accused of under-inflating the football. Specifically, they got accused of this during their win over the Indianapolis Colts. From the investigation, it was concluded that Tom Brady, the Patriots’ quarterback, knew about the deflation. Thus, he got suspended four games.

Also the New England Patriots were fined a total of $1 million and lost two draft picks.

Tiger Woods

Alright, this one became the most talked about golf scandal. Back in 2009, when reports surfaced that Tiger Woods had an extra-marital affair he also crashed his car near his home. Rumors flooded the media about the accident and his personal life.

Before he knew it, 12 mistresses came forward and his wife, Elin Nordegren, left him with a $750 million divorce settlement.

Maria Sharapova

Once ranked as the world’s best, Russian tennis star, Maria Sharapova failed her drug test in March of 2016. After testing positive for the banned substance called Meldonium, she tried to claim she was on the drug for health problems.

However, the International Tennis Federation did not believe her protests and suspended her for two years. Later, it got reduced to just 9 months.

Jerry Sandusky

In 2011, Jerry Sandusky, former Penn State defensive coordinator, was found guilty for child molestation over at least 15 years. All of Penn’s victories over the past 14 seasons were vacated and the court decided on a $60 million fine.

Tragically, many of those involved in Penn’s program failed to report any abuse, despite being aware of it. In particular, coach Joe Paterno was called out for not stopping the abuse. They later reinstated the Penn State wins. Sandusky was sentenced to 30-60 years in prison, which means a life sentence considering his old age.

Angel Matos

Just because you’re competing in martial arts, doesn’t mean you have the right to kick anyone! Well, Olympian Angel Matos did not get the memo. While competing in Taekwondo in 2008, he took a long break to get some medical attention for an injury.

Since he took more than the allotted time for a break, the referee disqualified him from the match. Matos kicked the referee right in the face out of anger. Consequently, he got a life ban from the World Taekwondo Federation.

Mike Danton

Probably one of hockey’s most disturbing stories is that of player Mike Danton and his agent David Frost. Danton got arrested for attempting to hire a hitman to kill Frost, and served 63 months in prison. However, it came to light that Frost had been very controlling over Danton and also had a history of sexual exploitation with young teens.

A phone call between Danton and Frost was released where Frost even forced Danton to say I love you. Even to this day, Frost claims he wasn’t the target, but rather, it was Danton’s estranged father, Steve Jefferson who abused Danton as a child.

Rae Carruth

This tragic tale has been making headlines again recently with Rae Carruth’s upcoming release from prison set for October 2018. This former Carolina Panthers player played just three seasons before being sentenced to 17 years in prison for conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Carruth had his pregnant girlfriend Cherica Adams killed in a drive-by, but their unborn child was saved in an emergency C-section, one month premature. Unfortunately, the baby, Chancellor Lee Adams, was born with severe brain damage and cerebral palsy because of the traumatic birth. Now, Carruth is fighting for custody of his son as he approaches his release.

Ben Roethlisberger

Even though this Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback won the Super Bowl with his team in both 2005 and 2008, his legacy is overshadowed by some troubling allegations. Ben Roethlisberger or Big Ben, faced numerous sexual allegations against him.

Women in Georgia and Utah accused him of sexual assault, but never filed charges. The NFL suspended him for six games, but reduced that to four in 2010.

Al Campanis

Al Campanis was the general manager for the LA Dodgers in 1968 until 1987. Oh, he also previously played for them for a season. Sadly, this man made some racist remarks on Nightline. During his live interview, when speaking about the 40th anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, Ted Kopper asked his opinion on the lack of African Americans in GM and manager positions. To this, he replied that black people lack some of the necessities.

Broadcaster Koppel of Nightline really bent over backwards to make Campanis downplay his comments to seem less racist, but he simply didn’t budge. Shortly after this incident, he resigned permanently from the MLB world.

Brett Favre

Former NFL quarterback, best known for his time with the Green Bay Packers, faced a huge scandal in 2010. Nude photographs of Brett Favre surfaced online after he supposedly send them to a NY Jets reporter, Jenn Sterger. Apparently, Favre also sent her explicit texts and left voice messages in 2008 while playing for the Jets.

Favre later admitted to the voice messages, but not the photos. The league fined him $50,000 for not cooperating with their investigation, but otherwise said they had no grounds to discipline him for his personal relationships.

Andreea Răducan

At only 16 years old, Romanian gymnast Andreea Răducan won gold in the 2000 Olympics. However, she got stripped of this medal when tested positive for the stimulant pseudoephedrine. Turns out, this was due to her cold medicine and an ingredient it contained.

Sadly, she never got her gold medal reinstated despite requesting this of the International Olympic Committee back in 2015.

Dong Fangxiao

Speaking of Olympic gymnasts, next up is Chinese gymnast Dong Fangxiao. Fangxiao won the bronze medal during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

According to an investigation, they discovered she was only 14 years old but all contestants must be at least 16 years old. THus, she was stripped of her bronze medal.

Bountygate

The New Orlean Saints players and also coaches were discovered to be involved in an illegal bounty system from 2009 to 2011, which offered money to players who could injury and knock opponents out of games.

Thus, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended head coach Sean Peyton, one of the ringleaders, defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and GM Mickey Loomis, as well as fining the organization half a million dollars. Oh and the New Orleans Saints got stripped of their second round pick, not to mention additional player fines and suspensions.

Oscar Pistorius

South African runner Oscar Pistorius made headlines in 2013 for something far more notorious than being the first amputee to compete in the Olympics. Now, he’s known for murdering his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp. He claimed he thought there was an intruder in the bathroom and that’s why he fired four bullets through the closed door.

After the trial, he was sentenced to five years for culpable homicide and then three years for reckless endangerment. In 2015, his sentence was extended, so that his prison term was more than doubled.

Badminton 2012 Olympics

Badminton doesn’t come to mind when you think intense or scandal-filled sport. However, in the 2012 Olympic Games, four different women’s doubles teams made headlines for their scandal.

Apparently, one doubles pair from Indonesia, two from South Korea and one from China all intentionally lost matches in order to face a weaker team in the following round. Thus, all the teams were disqualified.

Surya Bonaly

The 1998 Olympic free skate event has to be one of the most memorable Olympic skating events in history. Why is that? Well, Surya Bonaly did a one-foot back flip, making her the second ever skater to accomplish this. Surprisingly, she didn’t even place.

Actually, that’s probably because she was a rebel and did the flip even though it was illegal in skating at the time. Thus, she got deducted points, but did become a figure skating hero!

Derrick Rose

Scandal broke for Derrick Rose in 2016 when he and two friends were accused of raping his former girlfriend back in 2013. In the court case, the defense team depicted the ex-lover as a sexually adventurous and gold-digging woman, who was seeking over $21 million in damages.

Thus, the jury cleared him in October 2016 of any wrongdoing. Adidas called the claims non-credible and continued their partnership with the New York Knicks player.

Salt Lake City 2002 Olympics

For years, Salt Lake City desperately wanted to host the Winter Olympics. However, they never seemed to get rallying support. Yet, that changed in 1998 when the bid for the 2002 Winter Games took place. It seemed the International Olympics Committee had a change of heart and Salt Lake City won in a landslide.

Later, it came out that the Salt Lake City Team bribed IOC members to vote for their city.

Ben Johnson

Canadian Ben Johnson won gold in the 100 meter sprint at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. After his big win he said on the record, “A gold medal—that’s something no one can take away from you.” Well, he spoke too soon because he got stripped of his gold after he tested positive for steroids. Apparently, at that time at least six of the eight finalists in his race eventually got implicated in doping.

In a 2013 interview, Ben Johnson admitted he had used steroids for years, but felt unfairly persecuted among the widespread doping in athletics. Johnson said, “I was nailed on a cross, and 25 years later I’m still being punished. I know what I did was wrong. Rules are rules. But the rules should be the same for all. But politics always plays in sports.”

Hand Of God

In the quarterfinal of the 1986 World Cup game between England and Argentina, Diego Maradona scored the most controversial goal. This Argentine player received at pass in the 51st minute and tapped the ball in with…his hand.

Since the red never blew the whistle, the goal was good and Diego Maradona scored again, helping Argentina win the game and later the tournament. Later on, Maradona admitted he cheated and nicknamed his hand, the “Hand of God.”

Cape Town Cricket Ball-Tampering

Now, for the biggest scandal in cricket! The Australian team tampered with the ball during their match against South Africa in Cape Town. Apparently, they used sandpaper to alter the ball’s condition.

However, player Cameron Bancroft was caught on television roughing up the ball. Later he said, “I’m not proud of what’s happened and I have to live with the consequences and the damage to my own reputation that comes with (it).”