1. Tyson Gay of the United States men's relay team caused the whole team to be stripped of their silver medals in the 2012 London Olympics.
Stand as a team, fall as a team.
After setting a national record time of 37.04 seconds in the 4x100m Relay, Gay tested positive for steroid usage, and had all of his results annulled back to July 2012.
His being disqualified disqualifies the whole team under IOC regulations unfortunately.
2. Ben Johnson was a renowned runner in the '80s, known as the fastest man in the world, and taking home gold for Canada in the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
But not everything was as it seemed.
Stanozolol, a steroid, was found in his drug test three days after winning and he was suspended and stripped of his medal. He tried a comeback in 1991, but was once again busted for doping.
I don't know why you'd try cheating again after being caught.
3. Marion Jones was a promising and impressive track and field athlete, winning many national and international championships as well as being the first female to win five medals at a single Olympics (three gold, two bronze).
It was all quite inspiring.
However, she was found to be guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs and stripped of her medals. Following this, she continued to fall into trouble for perjury and check fraud, leading to a six-month prison sentence.
From inspiration to cautionary tale.
4. Not focusing on one particular athlete, Russia as a nation might be banned from the Summer Olympics. After have many incidents and run-ins with authorities over doping scandals, extreme measures are being threatened.
Though they are trying to leave a backdoor type method of entry for athletes proven to be clean.
There are accusations of tampering with samples at the Sochi games and members of the Federal Security Service allegedly threatening testers. Some even say that athletes and coaches have tried to bribe or run away from doping officials. The matter is a serious one indeed.
Serious allegations for a serious offence.
5. Michael Phelps is known far and wide as one of the most successful Olympians to ever compete, with his record-breaking number of medals and incredible swimming speed.
Like, a seriously ludicrous number of medals.
Unfortunately for Phelps, this image of him smoking marijuana from a bong was released to the public, causing him to be suspended from swimming events and to lose his sponsorship contract with Kellogg's.
But hey, he's got the lungs for it as a swimmer, right?
6. Lyudmila Blonska was an incredibly promising heptathlete from Ukraine, training from the age of five in a wide variety of sports. However, Blonska was found to use doping and was suspended from events.
She had her second child during her absence from competitive sports. Productive use of your downtime.
However, when she returned to sports for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she was found again to be doping, and this being her second offence, she was struck with a lifetime ban from all future competitive sports events.
Some people just don't learn the first time.
7. The case of Yuriy Bilonog is an interesting one because he was stripped of his gold medal during the 2004 Athens Olympics for anabolic steroids, however he wasn't the only one. His Ukrainian teammate, Ivan Tsikhan, was also stripped of his silver medal for shotput.
Anabolic steroids are the wrong kind of shot to put in your body. Yes, that was a pun.
It turns out that the Athens Olympics had the greatest number of doping cases, clocking in at 31. This group included discus thrower Irina Yatchenko of Belarus, and shot putter Svetlana Krivelyova of Russia, who had to return their bronze medals.
That is not a statistic the home of the Olympics wants to be remembered for.
8. Rashid Ramzi was an up-and-coming track and field star who ran for Bahrain, gaining notoriety and medals a-plenty in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
On the fast track to success!
He achieved great success at the Olympics, taking gold in the 1500m race, but this celebration wouldn't last as his blood tested positive for the blood-boosting drug CERA. He was stripped of his medal and has yet to compete since.
I'm still not sure why people try to trick the Olympic testers. They get you eventually.
So remember that cheaters never win and SHAREthis so others don't have to learn the hard way.
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