Infamy, They've All Got It In For Me Quiz

Answer: Canada

Ben Johnson won gold medals at both the 1987 World Championships and 1988 Summer Olympics. When he won gold, he was an instant hero in Canada, receiving a phone call from Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Three days later, he tested positive for a banned substance and fellow Canadian and Olympic swimmer Mark Tewksbury hung a bed sheet out of his window at Olympic village with the words "Hero to Zero in 9.79' (9.79 being Johnson's time in the 100 metre sprint). At first, Johnson denied taking illegal substances but finally admitted it and was stripped of both gold medals.

He attempted a comeback and in 1993 won a fifty-metre race in France but was found guilty of doping again. This time he was banned for life. In 1998 he raced against a horse and a stock car in a charity race and came in third place. In 1999 he was hired as a football coach for the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi's son was hired by an Italian football club but was fired after one game for, you guessed it, failing a drug test. After leaving Libya, Johnson was allegedly robbed of the money he'd earned coaching but was ironically unable to catch the runners who ran off toward a subway station. Unbelievably, in 1999 Johnson himself arranged for a drug test so that he could be reinstated and tested positive for a substance known to mask the presence of other drugs.

Answer: Ice skating

At the ice skating competition in 2002, the Russian pair had won the short competition. During their short program, the Canadians had tripped and fallen right at the end of the routine, which led to them trailing behind the Russians. During the long program, the Russians made a technical error while the Canadians skated flawlessly. When the judges revealed their scores showing that the Russians had won the gold medal, there was immediate outrage about the outcome with both Canadian and American press and public expressing their dismay at the terrible scoring.

It was revealed that a French judge named Marie-Reine Le Gougne was pressured to award higher scores to the Russians, regardless of how they skated. As a result of an internal investigation, Le Gougne was suspended and the Canadians were awarded gold medals but the Russians were allowed to keep theirs as well. After the Olympics, the scoring system for ice skating was changed from the anonymous process previously used to a more open and transparent judging system. A Russian organized crime boss was arrested but never charged with masterminding the scoring fix at the 2002 games.

Answer: Kicked a referee in the face

Cuban athlete Angel Matos had won gold at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games and was participating in a bronze medal match at the 2008 Games. He led the match when he sustained a foot injury and took a medical time-out. According to the rules, participants are allowed a one minute time-out however when he was given a time warning by the Swedish referee he did not return to the mat.

The referee declared that he had retired from the match due to injury. In retaliation, Matos kicked the referee in the face, punched a judge in the arms and spat on the arena floor.

He had to be escorted from the arena by security. Within hours, the World Taekwondo Federation had banned him from competing in the sport for life. His coach accused the referee of taking bribes and even Fidel Castro defended Matos at first, stating that the judge had stolen the fight from him.

In later interviews, Matos has expressed regret about his attitude and misses competing in the sport.

Answer: Zola Budd

I remember watching this race live on television as there was so much hype surrounding the competition between Mary Decker and Zola Budd. Decker was supposed to take gold but Budd was a young eighteen year old barefoot runner to watch. During the race, there was jostling as the runners ran in a tight pack. Budd made a move midway through the race to get in front of Decker and as she did that, Decker's spike hit Budd's ankle. Budd took a miss-step and tripped Decker who went down and ended up not finishing the race at all. Budd ended up finishing well behind her potential.

This race took place in Los Angeles and as Budd continued running, boos filled the stadium. After the race she tried to apologize to Decker but Decker was having none of it. Decker had a post-race interview and was obviously upset.

As a result of her statements continually blaming Budd and the media for the hype, she was labeled a poor loser. Budd was subject to all kinds of negativity in the press, including being called a racist.

The race and the fallout following it were awful for both athletes.

Answer: Magic Johnson

The US team won the gold medal in basketball and won their games by an average of forty-four points. Their players included Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Charles Barkley and Larry Bird. These professional players who were at the top of their game were only allowed to play due to a change in rules. Prior to the 1992 Games only amateur players were allowed to participate. When this rule changed, there was no stopping the American team. This isn't the controversy asked in the question though.

Magic Johnson retired from the NBA in November 1991 after testing positive for HIV. At the time, it was expected that he would die from the disease and getting chosen to play at the Olympics proved to him and others that people with an HIV diagnosis can still live productively. He received a lot of positive public support, however, when he was chosen for the Olympics, the Australian delegation threatened to boycott the games. They were afraid that he would infect other athletes. Their threats actually backfired and garnered more public support for Johnson.

Answer: Tonya Harding

There is no doubt that Tonya Harding had a ton of skating talent. She was the first woman to land a triple axel jump in competition, a two-time Olympian and a two-time Skate America Champion. She had a tough upbringing, worked part-time jobs while training and dropped out of high school. Fellow competitor Nancy Kerrigan, whose father worked three jobs to fund her skating training, was attacked by an assailant one day before the U.S. Figure Skating Championship. As a result, she withdrew from the competition, which Harding won. Kerrigan was given a spot on the US Olympic team and both Harding and Kerrigan attended the Games. Kerrigan ended up winning a silver medal while Harding finished in eighth place, after having a skate issue. The entire event was a huge spectacle as Harding and her ex-husband were being questioned by authorities and hounded by the media regarding their involvement in the attack on Kerrigan.

The women's skating event was one of the most watched events in American television history. Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution and she was sentenced with probation, community service and a fine. Harding had bad luck and bad press in the aftermath. She tried boxing, dabbled at wrestling, was embroiled in a sex tape controversy and was in a band called The Golden Blades that was booed off stage. She's been on a number of reality TV shows throughout the years and is the subject of the movie "I, Tonya" (released in 2017).

Answer: Salt Lake City

Prior to being awarded the opportunity to host the Winter Olympics in 2002, Salt Lake City had applied four previous times but was not successful. It was announced that they had finally won their bid in 1995 and three years later, it was revealed that their organizing committee had bribed judges with gifts.

Investigations by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the United States Olympic Committee, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and the US Department of Justice were undertaken. As a result of the investigations, fifteen charges of bribery and fraud were filed and there were many resignations, expulsions and sanctions.

Investigations into the 1998 Winter Olympics and 2000 Summer Olympics found similar untoward practices surrounding the decisions on host cities.

The IOC adopted new rules as a result.

Answer: Oscar Pistorius

Oscar Pistorius is a former Paralympian and Olympian athlete who was found guilty of killing his girlfriend. Born with a congenital defect, both of his feet were amputated when he was eleven months old. He played a number of sports while in school before being introduced to running.

He won several gold medals at the Paralympic Games and with some controversy, fought to participate in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. He became the first double-leg amputee to do so (despite the fact that some thought his prosthetics gave him an advantage over the other athletes).

In 2013 while at home with his girlfriend, he alleges he thought there was an intruder in his home and shot through a bathroom door, killing his girlfriend in the process. He had previously been awarded the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award but that was revoked following his conviction.

He had also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow which was also revoked.

Answer: Black Power salute

Tommie Smith had won a gold medal and John Carlos the bronze medal in the 200 metre race at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico. When they stood on the podium and the "Star-Spangled Banner" played, they raised one fist in the air and bowed their heads (wearing one black glove each). All three athletes who stood on the podium wore human rights badges for the ceremony. This display is considered one of the most political in Olympic history. Smith and Carlos also wore no shoes, but wore black socks instead to represent black poverty. Smith wore a black scarf to represent black pride. Carlos wore a necklace of beads for all those who "were lynched, or killed and that no-one said a prayer for." They were booed as they left the stadium following the ceremony.

They were expelled from the games and were ostracized by fellow athletes. Their families received death threats and they were subject to abuse from media. The Australian silver medallist Peter Norman who was sympathetic to their protest was also criticized and ostracized. Despite qualifying for the 1972 Olympic Games, he was not chosen to represent Australia. When Norman died in 2006, Carlos and Smith were pallbearers at his funeral.

Answer: Paul Hamm

Paul Hamm is an extremely talented and decorated gymnast, having won all-around titles at both the Olympics and World Championships. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, he was awarded gold but there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding the win. First of all, he had a terrible fall during the vault part of the competition which knocked him to twelfth place and seemingly out of medal contention. In the parallel bars event, South Korean athlete Yang Tae Young was given an incorrect and lower start value which contributed to the final rankings.

When the crowd saw what was happening, they booed for ten straight minutes. Young appealed but the results stood. Because of the controversy, Hamm was removed for consideration to have his likeness on a Wheaties cereal box. Hamm attempted to compete in the 2008 Olympics but sustained injuries and retired in 2012. In 2011 he was accused of assaulting a taxi driver and threatening two police officers. He was fired from his university coaching position as a result.