The Biggest Olympic Scandals & Controversy

Doping, attacks, massacres, cheating, and athletes losing medals—Olympic scandals have shaken the event over the years. Both the Summer and Winter Games have faced their share of issues, with performance-enhancing drugs being a key concern. To get you ready for potential incidents at the 2024 Paris Games, we’ve outlined some of the biggest scandals in Olympic history below.

2024: Scandal at the Paris Olympic Games

The Paris games haven’t been plain sailing, with scandals starting from the opening ceremony along the Seine angering Christian fundamentalists, and covering the quality of beds, food, and climate control, all the way to controversial athletes and doping scandals. Here are some of the biggest issues to hit the Paris Games so far.

1. Boxers ‘Khelif’ and ‘Lin’ Face the Gender Eligibility Heat at the Paris Olympics 2024

2. Paris Opening Ceremony Upsets Right-Wing American Christians

Thomas Jolly is a French artist and actor, selected back in 2022 to be the Artistic Director of the opening ceremony for the 2024 Games. His production included a range of tableau depicting French culture including its language, politics, and reputation for excess.

One such tableau was during the festivité section of the 6km procession down the Seine. It featured 14 people including drag queens sitting at catwalk, with a man in blue body paint in front of them. Outrage ensued when some people interpreted the display as mocking Da Vinci’s fresco The Last Supper, and inferring it as therefore mocking Christ and Christianity.

The 2024 Paris Olympics has gone full Woke dystopian.

The opening ceremony was filled with transgend*r mockery of the Last Supper, the Golden Calf idol, and even the Pale Horse from the Book of Revelation.

The Olympics has made it clear that Christian viewers aren't welcome. pic.twitter.com/LgawyE6YRX

— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) July 26, 2024

The painting that so many have said the Olympic scene mocks was painted over 1,400 years after the last supper was said to have taken place. Historians also believe that the Da Vinci was either gay or bisexual, and his painting set Jesus and his disciples in a Renaissance hall, unlike anything that would have been available to him during biblical times. Indeed, the scene was never intended to even look like the famed fresco – it was inspired by Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and a nod to French wine and excess.

Hungary’s ambassador to the Vatican, Eduard Habsburg, also took exception to the section of the ceremony depicting the beheaded former French queen, Marie Antoinette. The wife of Louis XVI was from the House of Habsburg which ruled the Austro-Hungarian empire, and was arrested and beheaded during the French Revolution, one of the most famous historical events of the nation.

Even so, the ambassador declared “…because decapitating Habsburgs and ridiculising central Christian events are really the FIRST two things that spring to mind when you think of [the Olympic Games],” even though the ceremony was supposed to be about French culture, not the games specifically.

3. Outcry at Olympic Village Standards

Olympic athletes tend to stay at the Olympic Village during their stay at the competition. Every four years, there turns out to be some issue or other with the facilities on offer, and 2024 is no different.

First debuted at the delayed 2021 games in Tokyo, cardboard beds are being used in athlete’s quarters in Paris, too. Rumors have circled the games that the flimsy material is used to discourage sex between athletes, but in reality, cardboard bed frames at the Olympics are to boost green credentials.

Five-times British diving medallist Tom Daly demonstrated the sturdiness of the beds on TikTok, dispelling talk of how flimsy they are:

@tomdaley

CARBOARD BEDS IN THE OLYMPIC VILLAGE! #paris2024 #olympics

♬ original sound – Tom Daley

Another issue raised with village facilities is the HVAC options – or lack thereof. In a further attempt to keep the Games sustainable and eco-friendly, air-conditioning hasn’t been installed, although it’s not commonly found in homes in Northern Europe in general. With temperatures set to touch 90°F in the first week of the games, Team USA has taken its own AC units over.

@sports.illustrated

Air conditioning has become a hot topic ahead of the Paris Olympics #airconditioner #ac #paris #olympics #usa #summer #athletes

♬ original sound – Sports Illustrated

There are over 15,000 competitors at the games, and they all need to be fed. However, the first week saw criticism of the official catering partner Sodexo Live! when rationing of some foods like eggs was introduced. It has been reported that demand for eggs and other athlete essentials like grilled meats have been in higher-than-expected demand so further supplies have had to be brought in at short notice.

4. Doping at the Paris Olympics

In the run-up to the Tokyo Games, 23 Chinese swimmers aiming to qualify for the event tested positive for banned substance, trimetazidine. 11 of those found with the heart-boosting drug in their system are set to compete at Paris. Due to the pandemic, the international doping agency Wada chose to accept its Chinese counterpart’s reasoning that a hotel kitchen had been contaminated – although not all athletes who tested positive stayed at the same hotel.

Two swimmers on the Chinese team also tested positive for steriods in 2022. Chinese authorities claimed that the pair had eaten contaminated cheeseburgers.

Swimmers at the Paris games aren’t happy that these Chinese participants will be allowed in the pool. “At the end of the day, I’m a clean athlete and I’m trying to abide by those rules and I just hope my competitors do the same,” Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook has said.

Those Allowed and Those Sent Home from the Games

One of the early sports in the Games schedule is beach volleyball, and one Dutch competitor caused an uproar for being allowed to take part. Steven van de Velde, aged 29, was convicted of raping a 12-year-old in the UK in 2014, when he was 19. He has represented the Netherlands on the international stage since 2017 after being assessed as not being at risk of reoffending and expressing public remorse. The Dutch Olympic Committee continues to allow him to participate.

A seemingly much less serious issue has led to a Brazilian swimmer being sent home early by her team. Her team set strict rules about athletes not leaving the village without permission, which Ana Carolina Vieira and her Brazilian teammate and boyfriend Gabriel Santos contravened. Their infraction was uncovered after the pair posted on social media.

Vieira was sent home because the BOC claimed she was ” disrespectful and aggressive” when told of her sanctions. Meanwhile, Santos was given a warning. Vieira has since said she had to leave France without any of her belongings and wasn’t given time to communicate with anyone.

Staffer for Canada Soccer Joseph Lombardi was sent home, along with his direct report Jasmine Mander, for apparently spying on the New Zealand women’s soccer team. The team reported to police that a drone had been flying over their training sessions, with the device being traced back to the Canadian support staff.

Head coach for Canada’s women’s team Beverly Priestman voluntarily withdrew from coaching her team in its match against New Zealand, which Canada eventually won 2-1. The chief executive of Canada Soccer David Blue has confirmed Priestman won’t coach further games in the tournament and global governing body FIFA has suspended all three involved from coaching soccer for a year.

@bbcsport

Canada women’s football manager Beverly Priestman has been removed as Olympic head coach over drone incident ❌ #Olympics #Paris2024 #CanadaWomen #BeverlyPriestman #Football

♬ original sound – BBC Sport

5. Grinding Out A Win

During the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, gay dating and hookup app Grindr turned off location services for the Olympic Village. Usually, users can search for matches nearby, but the app was concerned about LGBTQ+ athletes being maliciously outed in a country where homosexuality is legal, but not always socially accepted.

In an attempt to once again protect athletes who may come from countries with bans on sexuality and sexual express, Grindr has once again turned off location searching around the village in Paris. In a statement, the app makers said “If an athlete is not out or comes from a country where being LGBTQ+ is dangerous or illegal, using Grindr can put them at risk of being outed by curious individuals”

Users in the Olympic Village area will also be able to as many disappearing messages as they like and unsend messages, regardless of whether they have a paid plan. Screenshots can also be disabled, providing an extra layer of security.

While not scandalous, it is positive to see private companies working to support people and potentially prevent another Olympic scandal from breaking.

2022: Kamila Valieva’s Drug Test

In one of the major examples of cheating, the 2022 Winter Olympics witnessed 15-year-old Kamila Valieva of Russia test positive for trimetazidine. The figure skater was given a provisional suspension following the positive result, although she was cleared on appeal by the RUSADA independent anti-doping committee.

At a hearing in February of that year, Valieva claimed that the positive test result came from a “contamination with [her] grandad’s medicine”, which had been crushed by him into a strawberry dessert given to her. This voided her gold medal win from the Games and she received a 4-year ban.

2012: Badminton Match Fixing

In one of the biggest Olympic scandals, 2012 saw the badminton women’s doubles tournament thrown into disarray in the group stage. Eight players – two pairs from South Korea, a pair from China, and another from Indonesia – ended up ejected from the tournament due to being found guilty of “not using best efforts” by playing to lose matches.

In one match, both teams made basic and obvious errors, while in another, the longest rally went for just four shots. Why? To try and manipulate the draw for the knockout stage of the competition.

1994: Winter Olympics – Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding

One of the biggest sports scandals came in the ’94 Winter Olympics held in Lillehammer, Norway. U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked seven weeks before the Games took place. As she was walking through a corridor at Cobo Arena following practice, a man later identified as Shane Stant assaulted her by bludgeoning her leg with a police baton.

The attack had been arranged by Jeff Gillooly, the ex-husband of Kerrigan’s U.S. skating rival Tonya Harding. The idea was to prevent Kerrigan from being able to compete in the Winter Olympics. It didn’t work and Kerrigan won silver that year.v

1988: “The Dirtiest Race”

Held in Seoul, South Korea, the event already courted controversy when Carl Lewis was allowed to participate, despite testing positive for a banned substance. A 12-week suspension on him was overturned by the U.S. Olympic Committee, which saw him win two gold medals at the ’88 event.

Oddly enough, that also included a gold in the men’s 100m sprint after Canadian Ben Johnson was stripped of the medal after testing positive for stanozolol. Why was the race dubbed “The Dirtiest”? Because only two out of the total eight runners were clean of drugs.

1976: East German Women’s Gold Medals

In the 1970s, East Germany’s swimming teams quickly rose through the rankings. The country claimed 25 medals in the 1968 Olympics, 66 four years later, and 90 in ‘76. The nation’s women were particularly noticeable during the decade. Yet 31 years after the huge victories, a united Germany ended speculation on the wins, noting that the athletes were using drugs.

At the time, various members of other teams had suggested this to be the case, including US swimmer Shirley Babashoff. Their complaints fell on deaf ears, though.

2014: Sochi Winter Olympics and LGBTQ Rights

The 2014 Winter Olympics took place in Sochi, but in mid-2013, several organizations including Human Rights Watch called for the Games to be boycotted. This was due to legislation many claimed was designed to oppress the LGBTQ+ community.

With that legislation in place, the public display of rainbow flags, the open acknowledgment of LGBTQ+ identities, and public displays of affection between same-sex couples cannot take place. The event was also marred by more Russian athletes being disqualified over doping – another instance of steroid Olympics taking place.

2008: Beijing Games Human Rights and Racism

The 2008 Summer Olympics owns the title of most medals stripped for cheating in sports by using drugs. It also experienced a mass of controversy, including racism. This occurred when the Spanish men’s basketball team posed for a newspaper article, pulling back the skin on either side of their eyes in a racist Asian stereotypes.

And while the Olympics were advertised as “a force for good”, journalists were arrested, reports of migrant labor abuse took place, and civil society was repressed. The rights of minorities were also commented on during the event.

1980: The Boycott Olympics

The Summer Olympics were to be held in Moscow in 1980. That year experienced one of the biggest controversies when U.S. President Jimmy Carter instigated a boycott, though. As a protest against the country’s invasion of Afghanistan, many nations refused to participate. A total of 66 eligible nations didn’t participate, with some pulling out in protest and others due to financial reasons.

This left 80 countries to compete – the lowest number since the 1960 Games in Rome. The Olympic Boycott Games took place in the United States at the University of Philadelphia in July of that year, featuring 29 of the boycotting countries.

1972: The 1972 Terrorist Massacre

One of the Olympic scandals that is more of a tragedy than anything else, just four years after one massacre occurred another struck in Munich, West Germany. This one hit during the Olympic Games though, when members of Israel’s team were taken hostage by Black September, a Palestinian terrorist group. Eleven of the nation’s athletes, coaches, and judges were murdered by the attackers.

Logical assistance for the terrorists to infiltrate the Olympic Village and commit the atrocity came from West German neo-Nazis. The country’s police ambushed the terrorists, killing five of the eight men. The rescue attempt failed though, with all hostages, as well as a German policeman, killed.

1968: The 1968 Massacre

The Tlatelolco Massacre took place 10 days before the 1968 Summer Olympics Games began in Mexico City. Students in the capital tried to garner media attention, looking for their country to protest the Mexican authoritarian government. The reaction from the U.S.-backed Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) guaranteed more controversial games.

The government struck out violently, with more than 2,000 protesters shot at by armed forces. A total of 5,000 soldiers, 200 tankettes, and trucks surrounded the protesting students. The Mexican government claimed they were fired at first from surrounding apartments.

1956: Blood in the Water

Political frustrations between the Soviet Union and Hungary reached an intense climax when the two teams met for a water polo semi-final match. Hungary would defeat the USSR 4-0 in the game, but tensions were high throughout. This was due to the violent suppression of the revolution in Hungary.

Throughout the polo match, players proceeded to use their violent measures, the crowd booed the Russian team, and Hungarian player Ervin Zádor emerged from the water in the final two minutes with blood pouring from above his eye – the result of a punch from Valentin Prokopov.

1936: Berlin Olympics

In 1931, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose Berlin to host the ’36 Olympics. Yet, Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in 1933 saw the plans for the Games become wrapped up in the politics of the Nazi regime. Hitler went on to label the event as “his”, using the competition for propaganda purposes, creating an infamous Olympics scandal.

Further controversy arose when Hitler chose not to shake hands with American long-jump medal winner Jesse Owens. Many people noted it as a snub of African American participation, although he also didn’t receive a personal honor from then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

2016: Ryan Lochte and the Gas Station Altercation

Many know Ryan Lochte as a 12-time Olympic medallist, being the second-most decorated swimmer in Games history by total number of medals won. However, in 2016, he drew international controversy when he claimed that he and three other swimmers were pulled over and robbed by armed men in Rio de Janeiro.

It turned out that the American swimmers had urinated outside the bathroom of a gas station, while Lochte had also vandalized a framed poster. The “armed robbers” were security guards. As a result, he lost four major sponsorships, and the Olympic committee suspended him for 10 months.

2016: People v. Turner

In 2016, Brock Turner, a former swimmer at Stanford University, was convicted of the sexual assault of an unconscious woman. Two passersby had witnessed the 19-year-old forcing himself upon an immobile and partially unclothed woman next to a dumpster outside a fraternity party. They restrained him while calling the authorities.

22-year-old Chanel Miller was the victim, although Turner pled not guilty to the charges put before him. He was convicted of three charges of felony sexual assault though and sentenced to six months in jail followed by three years of probation. Many deemed this as too light a sentence.

2014: Oscar Pistorius Trial

South African sprinter Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius won the hearts of the public when he competed in the 2012 Summer Olympics and the Paralympics of the same year. Having had both his feet amputated at 11 months old, he impressed on the track. He also became the center of one of the most shocking Olympic scandals of all time.

In 2013, he shot and killed his girlfriend, a paralegal and model named Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius claimed that he had mistaken her for an intruder hiding in his Pretoria home bathroom. After being arrested and charged with murder, his trial in 2014 saw him found not guilty of that crime, but of culpable homicide instead.

2013: Lance Armstrong Doping Scandal

Throughout his career, cyclist Lance Armstrong came up against a constant barrage of doping allegations. He denied such accusations right up until 2013 when he became known as one of the most famous cheaters around the world. Armstrong had risen in popularity with people following his cancer diagnosis in 1996 – something he battled and recovered from.

Prosecutors in the U.S. pursued allegations of doping between 2010 and 2012. Armstrong finally came clean in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey in January 2013. The outcome led to him being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and his Olympic medal.

Conclusion

With such a long-running history of Olympic fails and shocking scandals, it’s pretty clear that controversy is as much a feature of the games as the opening ceremony or the flame itself. While this isn’t ideal, it goes a long way in proving that sports on the international stage matters. The people competing are doing so for personal and national pride and glory, and are willing to go to extreme lengths to win. National issues are also regularly played out on the global stage, drawing attention to things like human rights and other important political causes.

As a year full of big political moments, the Olympic Games in Paris will likely continue the tradition of fierce competition and controversies both in and around the tournament.[/su_note]

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