30 Most Controversial Olympians of All Time
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The Olympics capture the world’s attention every two years, and they're not without controversy. After all, athletes are people, too. They make mistakes, try to cheat and even commit crimes when the spotlight dims.
This collection of Olympic athletes rankled the system in one way or another. Some have challenged authority. Some have been arrested. Some have tried to cheat the system through drug use. Some have even committed felonies.
These are the most hated Olympians of all time.
27. Jim Thorpe
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (Stockholm 1912)
Medals won: 3 (3 gold)
Bottom Line: Jim Thorpe
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Thorpe was the greatest athlete of his time, but he was banned from the Olympics and even lost his titles after it was revealed that he had been paid for playing semi-professional baseball before competing, violating the Olympics amateurism rules.
In 1983, however, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) restored his Olympic medals 30 years after his death.
26. Jesse Owens
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (Berlin 1936)
Medals won: 4 (4 gold)
Bottom Line: Jesse Owens
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Owens stole the spotlight from Adolf Hitler during the 1936 Games, even staring directly at the German president while atop the podium after winning gold.
While it was universally revered, Owens standing up to power was no less controversial.
25. Evander Holyfield
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Event: Boxing
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (1984 Los Angeles)
Medals won: 1 (1 bronze)
Bottom Line: Evander Holyfield
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Holyfield was disqualified in controversial fashion during the 1984 semifinals in Los Angeles. Even though he outboxed New Zealand’s Kevin Barry, the referee disqualified him for hitting after the break, which means Holyfield could only claim the bronze medal that year.
The controversy didn’t end there; however, he also wasn’t at fault when his ear was bit off by Mike Tyson.
24. John Carpenter
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (1908 London)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: John Carpenter
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Carpenter should’ve won a gold medal in the 400-meter race in London but was disqualified for using an illegal Olympic maneuver, blocking, that actually was legal in the United States.
Carpenter’s legacy was the creation of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) that standardized rules across the world.
23. Tommie Smith and John Carlos
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (1968 Mexico City)
Medals won: 1 (1 gold for Smith) (1 bronze for Carlos)
Bottom Line: Tommie Smith and John Carlos
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Tommie Smith and John Carlos are intrinsically linked. Like Owens, they stood up to power, creating an iconic image with their fists raised to show support for Black America while “The Star-Spangled Banner” blared from the speakers after their medal wins in the 200-meter race.
What’s been dubbed the “1968 Olympics Black Power salute” was seen as controversial at the time, but it has waned as civil rights have become more universal. In fact, Smith wrote in his autobiography that the gesture was not about “Black Power” and more about “human rights” as a whole.
22. Florence Griffith-Joyner
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 2 (1984 Los Angeles, 1988 Seoul)
Medals won: 5 (3 gold, 2 silver)
Bottom Line: Florence Griffith-Joyner
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FloJo captured the imaginations of Americans with her stylistic nails and eye-popping times, but she also endured constant whispers of steroid and PED use.
Although she never failed a drug test, accusations flew from competitors and peers. She passed away suddenly in 1998 at the age of 38.
21. Bertil Sandstrom
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Event: Equestrian
No. of Olympics participated in: 3 (1920 Antwerp, 1924 Paris, 1932 Los Angeles)
Medals won: 3 (3 silver)
Bottom Line: Bertil Sandstrom
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Sandstrom had finished first in the 1932 individual equestrian event but was essentially disqualified when he was found to use clicking sounds to control his horse — which was illegal at the time.
20. Michael Phelps
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Event: Swimming
No. of Olympics participated in: 5 (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016)
Medals won: 28 (23 gold, 3 silver, 2 bronze)
Bottom Line: Michael Phelps
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Phelps is the most decorated Olympic athlete in history, but he’s not without his own controversy.
Phelps was arrested for a DUI in 2014, between Olympic appearances, and while going 84 in a 45 mph zone.
19. Oksana Baiul
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Event: Ice skating
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (Lillehammer 1994)
Medals won: 1 (1 gold)
Bottom Line: Oksana Baiul
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Baiul was the youngest Olympic gold medalist in history, topping Nancy Kerrigan in the ladies singles figure skating event as a 16-year-old.
Less than three years later, she, too, was arrested for a DUI before even reaching the legal drinking age in the United States.
18. Greg Louganis
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Event: Diving
No. of Olympics participated in: 3 (1976 Montreal, 1984 Los Angeles, 1988 Seoul)
Medals won: 5 (4 gold, 1 silver)
Bottom Line: Greg Louganis
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Louganis was a decorated Olympic diver; however, his most famous action came when he bled into the pool after hitting his head on the diving board during the 1988 Games.
Less than six months after the Olympics, he tested positive for HIV, only adding to the controversy.
17. Ross Rebagliati
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Event: Snowboarding
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (1998 Nagano)
Medals won: 1 (1 gold)
Bottom Line: Ross Rebagliati
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Rebagliati won gold at the first Olympic men’s slalom snowboarding event but was stripped of his medal after testing positive for cannabis.
Rebagliati called the positive test a result of secondhand contact, and his medal was later reinstated.
16. Maria Sharapova
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Event: Tennis
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (2012 London)
Medals won: 1 (1 silver)
Bottom Line: Maria Sharapova
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Sharapova is one of the greatest women’s tennis players ever, but she was caught up in a doping scandal and was banished from tennis for 15 months.
Sharapova finished her lone Olympic appearance by falling to Serena Williams in the gold medal match.
15. Adam Pengilly
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Event: Skeleton
No. of Olympics participated in: 2 (2006 Torino, 2010 Vancouver)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Adam Pengilly
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Pengilly’s controversy did not come during his competitive days but after when he was accused of shoving a security guard and subsequently expelled from the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Pengilly had been serving as an IOC board member in his primary sport, Skeleton.
14. Dong Fangxiao
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Event: Gymnastics
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (2000 Sydney)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Dong Fangxiao
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Fangxiao was an exceptional talent who catapulted China to a bronze medal at the games in Sydney.
However, because she was just 14 at the time — and had lied by claiming she was 17 — the IOC stripped her and her country of their prize.
13. Tony Andre Hansen
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Event: Show jumping
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (2008 Beijing)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Tony Andre Hansen
Hansen helped his home country of Norway to a bronze medal at the games in China, but they were stripped of their medal after his horse Camiro failed a drug test.
Hansen has since become a guitarist for the band Ovation.
12. Boris Onischenko
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Event: Modern pentathlon
No. of Olympics participated in: 3 (1968 Mexico City, 1972 Munich, 1976 Mexico City)
Medals won: 3 (1 gold, 2 silver)
Bottom Line: Boris Onischenko
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Onischenko was so desperate to win an individual gold medal in the fencing portion of the pentathlon that he rigged his epee sword to count a touch without the required force. The British team, competing against Onischenko’s Soviet squad, caught this and brought it to the attention of the judges, who disqualified both Onischenko and the Soviet team.
He was banned for life and kicked out of the Communist party by USSR leader Leonid Brezhnev.
11. Stella Walsh
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 2 (1932 Los Angeles, 1936 Berlin)
Medals won: 2 (1 gold, 1 silver)
Bottom Line: Stella Walsh
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Walsh was a dominant athlete in her time, especially in the 100-meter race. But her controversy began after she was murdered in 1980. An autopsy found that Walsh had male genitalia and male chromosomes, despite the fact that she had competed as a woman in two Olympics.
There have been calls to strip her of her medals, but that has not happened since her actual gender dispute has still not been resolved.
10. Madeline and Margaret de Jesus
Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (1984 Los Angeles)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Madeline and Margaret de Jesus
The de Jesus sisters teamed up to create one of the weirdest scandals in Olympic history that could only happen to identical twins.
Madeline was injured and unable to participate in the 400-meter race but invited her sister Margaret to participate in her place. Margaret actually qualified for the final, but they were removed from the final after their coach discovered the ruse.
9. Frederick Lorz
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Event: Marathon
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (1904 St. Louis)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Frederick Lorz
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Lorz’s win in the 1904 marathon was marred because he actually took a car to the finish line. He was so exhausted that his manager picked him up, and he was declared the winner before admitting to the stunt.
He was later banned by the AAU.
8. Zola Budd
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 2 (1984 Los Angeles, 1992 Barcelona)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Zola Budd
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Budd, known for her barefooted running, had one of the most infamous moments in Olympic history. In the 3,000-meter race at the 1984 games, the heavily favored Mary Decker stepped on Budd’s foot and was forced out of the race.
Decker blamed Budd, who finished seventh, for the altercation, thus adding to the controversy.
7. Dora Ratjen
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Event: Long jump
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (1936 Berlin)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Dora Ratjen
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Ratjen participated in the women’s long jump in his home games but was later determined to be a male. Ratjen was not transgender but misidentified as a girl at birth, and his parents raised him as a girl.
He finished fourth in Berlin, then later set the world record for long jump before it was discovered he was a man. Ratjen later became known as Heinrich.
6. Ryan Lochte
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Event: Swimming
No. of Olympics participated in: 4 (2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing, 2012 London, 2016 Rio)
Medals won: 12 (6 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze)
Bottom Line:Ryan Lochte
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Lochte is one of the most decorated U.S. Olympians in history, yet finds himself this high on the list after a colossal scandal in 2016.
He actually lied about being mugged in Rio before admitting he and fellow swimmers had actually vandalized a bathroom at a gas station in Brazil.
5. Ben Johnson
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 2 (1984 Los Angeles, 1988 Seoul)
Medals won: 2 (2 bronze)
Bottom Line: Ben Johnson
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Johnson was the original Olympic performance-enhancing drug user — or at least the first one caught using steroids. He won a pair of bronze medals in L.A.
Then, he won multiple gold medals in 1988 — and set a 100-meter record time of 9.79 — but was later stripped of his wins due to a positive test for the drug stanozolol.
4. Lance Armstrong
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Event: Cycling
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (2000 Sydney)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Lance Armstrong
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Armstrong is on the list not for participating in his one Olympic Games but for his steroid use, which he vehemently denied until he could no longer do so. Armstrong won a bronze medal in Sydney while in the midst of his seven straight Tour de France wins.
He has since been stripped of his titles and his Olympic medal after admitting he used PEDs in 2013.
3. Marion Jones
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (2000 Sydney)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Marion Jones
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Jones’ dominance at the Sydney Games was memorable, but so too was her downfall. She technically won three Olympic golds in Australia but was stripped of her medals after admitting to steroid use.
Unlike Armstrong, Jones has been apologetic about her steroid use, and she later enjoyed a career in the WNBA.
2. Tonya Harding
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Event: Figure skating
No. of Olympics participated in: 2 (1992 Albertville, 1994 Lillehammer)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Tonya Harding
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This one shouldn’t be a big shocker. Harding’s story has been well-documented, but for the uninitiated, she won the 1994 U.S. championship after her then-husband hired someone to attack rival skater Nancy Kerrigan.
She participated in Norway after admitting she had known of Jeff Gillooly’s involvement, and her performance was memorable due to her now-infamous broken skate blade. She was forced to vacate her U.S. championship, and her professional career devolved to boxing and reality television.
1. Oscar Pistorius
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Event: Track and Field
No. of Olympics participated in: 1 (2012 London)
Medals won: 0
Bottom Line: Oscar Pistorius
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Steroid use is bad. Harding’s conspiracy to commit assault was worse. But they all pale in comparison to Pistorius’ stunning downfall. He dominated the Paralympics and shockingly qualified for the Olympics despite losing both his legs and feet and due to a congenital defect.
His life quickly unraveled as he was convicted of culpable homicide for the death of his girlfriend and was sentenced to 13-plus years in prison.