50 Fun Facts About Cheating in Sports

Which Argentina star scored against England at the 1986 World Cup with a goal nicknamed the Hand of God?

Diego Maradona later admitted handling the ball and called the goal symbolic revenge for Argentina's defeat in the Falklands War four years earlier.

Which runner lost her 1980 Boston Marathon title after officials found she had not run the whole course?

Rosie Ruiz was stripped of the title eight days after the race, and investigators found she had also ridden the subway during the New York City Marathon.

Which American cyclist was stripped in 2012 of a record seven straight Tour de France titles for doping?

Lance Armstrong lost every result from August 1998 onward, and cycling's governing body chose to leave those seven Tours without a winner.

Which country's state doping scheme passed athletes' urine samples through a 'mouse hole' in an Olympic lab wall?

Russia's scheme came to light when whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov said doping experts worked with the intelligence service to switch samples at the 2014 Sochi Games.

Which figure skater was struck with a baton in 1994 in an attack planned by rival Tonya Harding's ex-husband?

Nancy Kerrigan was hit on the thigh after a practice session in Detroit, yet seven weeks later she skated to an Olympic silver medal.

Which quarterback was suspended for four games in 2016 over the underinflated footballs of the Deflategate scandal?

Tom Brady took the ban to federal court before accepting it, while the New England Patriots were fined $1 million and lost two draft picks.

Which MLB team banged on a trash can in 2017 to tell its batters what pitch was coming?

Houston Astros staff decoded catchers' signs from a live camera feed, and MLB answered with a $5 million fine and the loss of four top draft picks.

Which Canadian sprinter lost his 1988 Olympic 100 metres gold three days after the race for using stanozolol?

Ben Johnson had just lowered his own world record to 9.79 seconds in Seoul, and he was also stripped of his 1987 world title.

Eight players from which team were banned for life for throwing the 1919 World Series to the Cincinnati Reds?

Chicago White Sox players took gamblers' money to lose, and all eight were barred from the game even though a jury acquitted them in 1921.

Which country's basketball team was stripped of 2000 Paralympic gold after a journalist on the roster exposed it?

Spain had entered the intellectual disability tournament with players who were never tested for one, as team member and reporter Carlos Ribagorda revealed afterwards.

Which all-time MLB hits leader was banned in 1989 for betting on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds?

Pete Rose denied it for years, then admitted in a 2004 autobiography that he had bet on the Reds while managing them, though never, he said, on them to lose.

Which Cubs slugger was ejected from a 2003 game when umpires found he was using a corked bat?

Sammy Sosa said he had picked up a batting-practice bat by mistake, and MLB found no cork in the 76 other bats of his that it confiscated and tested.

What did Australia's Cameron Bancroft rub on the cricket ball during a 2018 Test in Cape Town to make it swing?

Sandpaper is something cricketers normally use on their bats; TV cameras caught him with it, and captain Steve Smith was banned for twelve months for knowing of the plan.

In which sport were eight players thrown out of the 2012 London Olympics for deliberately trying to lose group matches?

Badminton's four women's doubles teams had already qualified and each wanted to lose to earn a kinder quarter-final draw, so the format was changed for the next Games.

At ancient Olympia, fines paid by athletes who broke the rules were spent on bronze statues of which god?

Zeus appeared on 16 such statues, called Zanes after the local plural of his name. Judges could also order a beating or throw an offender out of the Games.

How did Fred Lorz cover eleven miles of the 1904 Olympic marathon before crossing the finish line first?

By car, driven by his manager until it broke down; Lorz then ran into the stadium, was hailed as the winner, and later claimed it had all been a practical joke.

Which American sprinter was stripped of five medals from the 2000 Sydney Olympics after admitting drug use?

Marion Jones had announced she would win five golds in Sydney and left with three golds and two bronzes, before the BALCO investigation undid them all.

Which Italian club was relegated to Serie B for the first time in 2006 over the Calciopoli scandal?

Juventus was also stripped of its 2004–05 league title, then won Serie B at the first attempt to return to the top flight.

Which NFL head coach was fined $500,000 in 2007 after his team videotaped the New York Jets' sideline signals?

Bill Belichick's fine was the largest the NFL had ever imposed on a coach, and the Patriots also lost a first-round draft pick in the affair known as Spygate.

Which Uruguay striker was sent off for a goal-line handball that denied Ghana a late winner at the 2010 World Cup?

Luis Suárez stopped on his way off to watch the resulting penalty, and celebrated when Asamoah Gyan hit the crossbar with it.

Which Roman emperor was declared winner of an Olympic chariot race in AD 67 despite being thrown from the chariot?

Nero never finished that ten-horse race, and at the same Games he also sang, played the lyre and acted in tragedies on stage.

What had Sweden's Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall drunk when he became the first Olympian disqualified for doping, in 1968?

Beer, reportedly two of them, was meant to calm his nerves before the pistol shooting; instead it got the whole Swedish modern pentathlon team disqualified.

Brazil's Rivaldo was fined at the 2002 World Cup for clutching which part of his body after a ball hit his thigh?

His face was untouched: Turkey's Hakan Ünsal had kicked the ball at him by the corner flag, and FIFA fined Rivaldo 11,670 Swiss francs after a video review.

Chile goalkeeper Roberto Rojas faked an injury from a firework in a 1989 qualifier by cutting himself with what?

A razor blade was hidden in his glove, and the stunt backfired: FIFA banned Rojas for life and barred Chile from the 1994 World Cup.

Soviet pentathlete Boris Onishchenko was expelled from the 1976 Olympics for secretly rigging which piece of equipment?

Sword touches in épée fencing are scored electrically, and a hidden switch let him register a hit without making any contact with his opponent.

Tim Donaghy was jailed in 2008 for betting on games he was working in which job?

NBA referee Donaghy spent 13 seasons in the league and admitted betting on games he officiated in four of them, which earned him 15 months in federal prison.

Which English rugby club used a fake blood capsule to engineer a substitution in a 2009 Heineken Cup quarter-final?

Harlequins wing Tom Williams bit the capsule late in a tight game against Leinster, and investigators found the club had faked blood injuries on four earlier occasions.

Which Formula One team ordered a driver to crash on purpose at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix so his teammate could win?

Renault had Nelson Piquet Jr hit the wall just after Fernando Alonso's early pit stop, and Alonso went on to win the race from 15th on the grid.

Which Formula One team was fined a record $100 million in 2007 for holding confidential Ferrari technical data?

McLaren was also thrown out of that year's constructors' championship, after one of its senior engineers was accused over the theft of a rival's information.

What did an X-ray reveal in the nose of the car that won the 1973 All-American Soap Box Derby?

An electromagnet gripped the steel starting gate when the 14-year-old driver leaned his helmet on a hidden switch; he lost the title two days after winning it.

Which French club lost its 1993 league title after its president had Valenciennes players paid to ease off?

Marseille wanted fresh legs for the Champions League final against AC Milan six days later, which it won 1–0; the French title that year was left with no winner.

Which South Africa cricket captain was banned for life in 2000 after admitting he took money from a bookmaker?

Hansie Cronje had taken cash and a gift for declaring an innings early in a Test, and at first he confessed only to selling information.

Three Pakistan cricketers were jailed over which illegal deliveries, bowled to order in a 2010 Test at Lord's?

No-balls arrived at exactly the moments a bookmaker had promised undercover reporters, one of them overstepping the line by a good half a metre.

What name is given to the fix in which bribed players keep a winning margin below the bookmakers' line?

Point shaving lets a corrupt player's team still win: a few missed shots, turnovers or fouls are enough to stop it covering the spread.

Which university's football program was shut down for all of 1987 under the NCAA's so-called death penalty?

SMU boosters had kept a slush fund for under-the-table payments to players, and the NCAA had never before cancelled a member's entire football season.

Which country's secret state programme fed Turinabol steroids to thousands of athletes, many of whom were never told?

East Germany's own secret records, opened in 1993, revealed the scale of a scheme that won medals at a devastating cost to many athletes' health.

Which heart drug, banned from January 2016, did Maria Sharapova test positive for at that year's Australian Open?

Meldonium had been given to her by a family doctor for ten years under the name mildronate, and she said she had not read the email announcing the ban.

Which Yankees star was suspended for the entire 2014 MLB season over the Biogenesis clinic scandal?

Alex Rodriguez returned to the Yankees' lineup on the very day in August 2013 that MLB announced the ban, and played on while he appealed.

Which former MLB slugger named ex-teammates as steroid users in his 2005 tell-all book Juiced?

Jose Canseco took personal credit for introducing steroids to the game, and argued in the book that supervised use could be good for players.

George Brett's 1983 home run against the Yankees was wiped out because his bat carried too much of which substance?

Pine tar covered about 24 inches of the bat, past the 18-inch limit, but the league president upheld a protest and restored the home run four days later.

Which teenage figure skater's positive test for trimetazidine cost her team its gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics?

Kamila Valieva was later given a four-year ban backdated to December 2021, which wiped out her European title as well as the Olympic team result.

In which figure skating event at the 2002 Winter Olympics did a judging scandal lead to two sets of gold medals?

Pairs gold went first to Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze; once one judge's scores were thrown out, Canada's Jamie Salé and David Pelletier got golds too.

China was stripped of a 2000 Olympic team bronze in which sport after a member was found to have been only 14?

Gymnastics set its minimum age two years above hers, and Dong Fangxiao's real birth date surfaced when she registered to work as an official at the 2008 Games.

Which sport cancelled its March 2011 grand tournament in Osaka after text messages showed that bouts had been fixed?

Sumo had last lost a grand tournament in 1946, when its war-damaged Tokyo arena was still under repair; police found the texts while investigating gambling.

Which cycling team was expelled from the 1998 Tour de France after customs officers found drugs in a staff member's car?

Festina's manager confessed to systematic doping after the border stop, and by the end of 2000 all nine of its Tour riders had admitted using banned substances.

Which American rider was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France victory after a test showed abnormal testosterone levels?

Floyd Landis fought the finding for almost four years before admitting in 2010 that he had doped from 2002 right through that Tour win.

What was found inside Femke Van den Driessche's bike at the 2016 Cyclo-cross World Championships, a first for cycling?

A concealed motor made hers the first confirmed case of mechanical doping, almost six years after the first rumours of powered bikes in the professional peloton.

Which NFL team's head coach was suspended for all of 2012 over a scheme paying bounties for hits on opponents?

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton was the first head coach the league itself had ever suspended; the bounty fund dated back to the club's Super Bowl-winning 2009 season.

Which Australian rugby league club was stripped of its 2007 and 2009 premierships for hiding salary cap breaches?

Melbourne Storm also had to play out the 2010 season for no points, and no club had lost a title before in 102 years of professional rugby league in Australia.

In Australia's 1984 Fine Cotton affair, how did conspirators disguise the faster racehorse they had swapped in?

Hair dye and paint fooled nobody for long: the white on Bold Personality's legs was already running as he came back to scale after winning.