The summer Olympics games are organized every 4 years and millions of people watch many athletes give it their all to procure a gold medal for their country. The games symbolize and emphasize on the sportsmanship, honesty as their pride. However in the 121 year history of the games, there have been quite a few blips and we have the 7 most controversial moments from the Summer Olympic Games.
Pierre De Coubertin is widely regarded as the founder of modern Olympics. He was also known for his highly ethical and sportsmanship behavior all over the world. However, unfortunately, the International Olympics Committee or IOC is rather edgy to talk about his s3xist views.
Coubertin and some of his fellow IOC members were not in view of women participating in the Olympiad. He wrote a letter to the committee in 1912 and said,” In our view, this feminine semi-Olympiad is impractical, uninteresting, ungainly, and, I do not hesitate to add, improper.” Coubertin believed that since ancient Olympics tested the male strength, skill and endurance, women should be invited in the games.
However, Olympics in 1900 saw women playing golf and tennis and finally in 2012, when women participated in boxing, the only remaining all male sport in the games.
Image Source: www.origos.hu
In 1928, women fought and won the rights to participate in the track events. However, it caused a very competitive event to be banned for 32 years. The event was the women 800m race and the reason was that many of the runners collapsed at the finish line with exhaustion.
Coaches and public called for the event to be banned after news papers reported that women fell after putting everything they had in the race. Coaches didn’t want the women runners to damage their feminine bodies and the event was banned.
It was in the 1960 Olympics, that middle distance female runners were brought back in the games.
Image Source: www.netdna-cdn.com
The marathon is one of the most grueling and endurance testing even in the Olympics. In the 1904, Missouri Olympics, a marathon runner by the name of Fred Lorz seemed to achieve his dream of winning gold in front of his home crowd.
Whoever, the heat of the summer got to majority of the 32 participants and caused them to bleed, vomit, get cramps and eventually some of them quit. Lorz was also at his physical end at the 9 mile mark. However, he got some help from a passing car and he took a lift in the car for 2 miles. At the mile 11 point, he decided to go alone on foot and completed the race on foot to thunderous applause from his city folks.
He received the winner’s wreath from President Roosevelt’s daughter Alice. However, an official rushed to the podium and revealed the truth. Lorz tried to laugh off the incident, but the games official didn’t find anything funny and he was banned from the sports altogether.
Image Source: www.netdna-cdn.com
Usually in badminton, or any other sports, the objective is to win the match and proceed to the next round. However in the 2012 summer Olympics, Two South Korean, one Chinese, and one Indonesian team decided to do something different. It is feasible to the qualified teams in the round robin league to lose a match in order to face a weaker opponent in the next round.
These teams decided to do the same thing and purposefully tried to lose their final round robin matches in order to secure weaker opponents in the knockout phase. However, the World Badminton Federation saw this behavior as unsportsmanlike and disqualified them from the games, despite their protests.
Everyone who follows long distance running in Olympics knows who Paavo Nurmi is. The legend won 9 gold and 3 silver medals in 12 events in Olympics and set 22 world records in distances between 1500m and 20 kms. However, during the early days, only amateur athletes were allowed to participate in the events.
Nurmi was accused of accepting too much money for travel expenses for the 1932 Olympics and disqualified him, as he had now become a professional. He never participated in Olympics ever again.
Image Source: www.runnersworld.com
Tae Kwan Do is a martial art that has become a famous event at the Olympics in recent times. Most of times, kicking is necessary for the sport to make points. However, in 2008 Olympics, Cuban athlete Angel Matos was disqualified and banned from the sport for kicking an official.
Matos had taken a medical timeout in the bronze medal match. However, official Chakir Chelbat disqualified him for taking too much time. This sent Matos in a rage and he unleashed a powerful kick right to the official’s face.
Image Source: www.thestar.com
You have many advantages when you have an identical twin. You get to substitute your twin for anything you want and vice versa. Madeline and Margaret de Jesus was one such pair of twins that got the brilliant plan of using their identicalness in Olympics in 1984.
Madeline injured herself in the long jump and was not available for the upcoming 4x400m relay. Margaret decided to step in for her sister, as even their coach couldn’t tell them apart and better the chances of their team Puerto Rico. However, before they could put their scheme in motion, their coach got the wind of their plan and pulled the team from the event.
Image Source: www.sportresearch.org