Mental Floss

The Quick 10: 10 Incidents (Other Than Boycotts) That Shook the Olympics

By Ben Smith

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Boycotts have caused controversy at the Olympic games in 1976, 1980, and 1984, and pressure was put on the United States and other nations to lead a boycott of the current games because of China's support of the Darfur genocide and mass displacement of residents, amongst other reasons. They aren't the only incidents that have caused scandal at the Games, however. Here are 10 other events, both major and minor, that have also created controversy in the history of the Olympics.

1. 1932—Equestrian Bertil Sandstrom of Sweden is demoted to last place for clicking to his horse to encourage it.

2. 1936—German cyclist Toni Merkens fouls Dutch opponent Arie van Vliet; rather than being disqualified, he is fined and keeps his gold medal.

3. 1968—The East German women's luge team is DQ'd for heating the runners prior to each of their runs.

4. 1972—Eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team are taken hostage by a Palestinian terrorist group and later murdered.

5. 1980—In addition to massive boycotts led by the United States, pole vault jumper Wladyslaw Kozakiewics was almost stripped of his medal for making a "bent elbow" gesture at the public.

6. 1988—Three judges for the boxing final between Park Si-Hun and Roy Jones Jr. are later suspended after it was found they may have been bribed into giving the win to Park despite Jones' clear success in the match.

7. 1994—Tonya Harding is banned for life after arranging for an attack to be made on her closest rival, Nancy Kerrigan.

8. 2002—Various members of the IOC were forced to resign after it was revealed they accepted expensive "gifts" in return for choosing Salt Lake City as the host of the Games.

9. 2002—The gold medal for pairs figure skating is given to both Berexhnaya & Sikharulidze and Sale' & Pelletier when it was found that the French Judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne, had been bribed.

10. 2004—Marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima is pushed into the crowd by a defrocked Irish priest, losing his first place position.