Worst sports cheating scandals

01

Doping in Russia

FSB agents drilled a mouse hole through a Sochi lab wall to swap athletes' tainted urine for clean samples at night. Over 1,000 Russian athletes across 30 sports were implicated. A state-sponsored operation so brazen it needed carpentry.

02

Diego Maradona

Maradona punched the ball into England's net with his left fist in the 1986 World Cup quarter-final, then credited 'the Hand of God.' He scored the century's greatest goal four minutes later in the same match.

03

Bloodgate

Harlequins winger Tom Williams bit a fake blood capsule to fake an injury; team physio Steph Brennan then sliced his lip with a scalpel to cover it up. A doctor lost her medical license over a substitution rule.

04

Tonya Harding

Jeff Gillooly paid $6,500 to have a metal baton driven into Nancy Kerrigan's right knee in a Detroit corridor, weeks before the 1994 Olympics. Harding became the first American woman to land a triple Axel in competition.

05

Frederick Lorz

Fred Lorz crossed the 1904 Olympic marathon finish line first, accepted the gold medal from Alice Roosevelt, then admitted a car had driven him 11 of the 26 miles. He claimed it was a joke.

06

Black Sox Scandal

Eight Chicago White Sox players threw the 1919 World Series for gamblers paying as little as $5,000 per player. A boy reportedly pleaded, 'Say it ain't so, Joe.' Shoeless Joe Jackson batted .375 during the fix.

07

Ben Johnson (Canadian sprinter)

Ben Johnson ran 9.79 seconds in Seoul — the fastest human ever timed — with visibly yellowed eyes. Within 72 hours, stanozolol was confirmed in his urine, and the world record was erased as if it never happened.

08

Shinshintotsuka scandal

A Japanese sumo wrestler sent pre-bout fix instructions by mobile phone to opponents inside a tournament, hiding the device inside the ring-house. Sumo's governing body initially denied it; 13 wrestlers were expelled after texts were recovered.

09

Tim Donaghy

NBA referee Tim Donaghy bet on 57 games he personally officiated, then admitted to adjusting foul calls to manipulate the spread. He served 15 months in federal prison and alleged the league itself manipulated playoff series.

10

Rosie Ruiz

Rosie Ruiz 'won' the 1980 Boston Marathon in a women's record time with dry clothes, fresh legs, and no finish-line sweat. Officials confirmed she had ridden the subway. She had used the same trick at the New York Marathon.