10 Biggest Gymnastics Controversies & Scandals

10 Dymnastics Controversies and Scandals

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at the most shocking scandals to have hit the competitive gymnastic community throughout history. We’ll explain what happened and the repercussions to those involved.

Medal Racism

In 2023, social media exploded in collective anger at a child’s gymnastic event in Ireland over a racist act. Originally taking place in 2022, the viral video showed all the competitors getting handed a participation medal by the judge. However, the white judge skipped over a black girl. Heartbreakingly, the girl waits eagerly for the woman to return, but she doesn’t. After the incident initially happened, the girl’s family was disappointed by the apology provided by the judge and the lack of one from the sporting body Gymnastics Ireland. Only when the scandal went viral did Gymnastics Ireland publicly apologize. This sparked the country’s Prime Minister to criticize them for the delay.

Leotard Protest

In women’s gymnastic events, typically, they’ll wear bikini-cut leotards. But when you look at the men, they often have attire that covers far more skin. Doesn’t seem fair. Beyond religious reasons, women don’t change from this leg-exposed look. Well, that changed in 2021 when Germany’s Sarah Voss wore a full-body suit at the European Artistic Gymnastics Championships. This milestone moment continued at the Olympics when the whole German team protested the sexualization of the sport by all wearing the same full-body unitards. They wanted to give women the choice of which outfit they prefer to compete in and hope athletes in other sports will follow their lead.

Rhythmic Cheating

Judges should be honest and unbiased when taking on the role, especially when looking to take part in major global events like the Olympics. However, a select group broke this basic requirement dramatically. In 2012, up to 60 prospective judges for rhythmic gymnastics took exams to officiate at the 2016 Olympics. However, it was discovered there was evidence they had been cheating by copying each other and having their answers changed in several testing sites throughout Europe. Amazingly, one test had two different handwriting styles on it! Immediately, several officials were suspended during the investigation. However, after appealing the decision, the International Gymnastics Federation controversially declared there was "no direct evidence" of cheating and dismissed the case against a number of judges.

Legendary Protest

Czechoslovakia’s Věra Čáslavská is one of the most iconic competitors to have entered the world of gymnastics. After all, she collected 7 Olympic gold and 4 silver medals during her career. At the time of the 1968 Olympics, the Prague Spring was underway, while the Soviet Union led an invasion into the then-Czechoslovak Socialist Republic to stop reforms in the country. Before the competition, Čáslavská trained in a forest, as she was worried about getting arrested for protesting the invasion. During the Olympics themselves, there were several controversial decisions against Čáslavská, including one where she was awarded the gold alongside the Soviet’s Larisa Petrik in the floor exercise. Then, during the medal ceremonies, as the Soviet national anthem played, Čáslavská subtly turned her head away in protest. While this effectively ended her career, she’s forever beloved for her bravery.

Low Vault

At the 2000 Olympics, something strange was going on during the all-around women’s gymnastics event. For some reason, several athletes seemingly messed up on the vault, even causing themselves injuries. When Australia’s Allana Slater took part, she realized the problem and alerted the judges. They measured the vault and saw it was set 5 centimeters, around 2 inches, too low. In a sport all about small margins making the difference between a perfect landing and a serious injury, this error was outrageous. After setting the equipment to its right height, the judges offered the competitors to retake the event. However, the error had already taken both physical and mental tolls as several favorites had fallen down the points charts in other events.

All-Around Scandal

At the 2004 Olympics, men’s gymnastics was hit by its biggest scoring controversy in history. During the artistic individual all-around, consisting of 6 events, South Korea’s Yang Tae-Young took part in the parallel bars. However, one of his maneuvers was incorrectly identified by the judges, dropping his score to a 9.9 start value from 10. This caused Yang to fall to a bronze, when, if correctly judged, he would’ve won the gold over America’s Paul Hamm. The coaches issued a complaint. However, as it was done after the event, the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the appeal. The Korean Olympic Committee awarded Yang a symbolic gold medal and a cash prize. However, even years later, this judging error still haunts the gymnast.

Age Lie

At the 2000 Olympics, Dong Fangxiao won bronze as part of the women's artistic team all-around. At the time, her birth year was registered as 1983. But after her retirement and becoming a technical official at the 2008 event, it was registered as 1986. This would’ve made her 14 in 2000, below the 16 age limit. Dong and her team were stripped of their medals from the 2000 Olympics and the 1999 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. In 2008, China’s He Kexin faced similar accusations. Her official birthdate and the one provided by the media were different and would’ve made her underage. Chinese officials blamed it on paperwork errors, and the International Gymnastics Federation agreed by dropping the case. However, not everyone believes this explanation.

Cold Decision

Athletes and performance-enhancing substances is always a hot topic. However, not every case is cut and dry. At the 2000 Olympics, Romania’s Andreea Răducan took gold in the team all-around and individual event, as well as silver in the vault. However, days later, it was announced that Răducan had tested positive for the banned substance pseudoephedrine. Her team stated she had taken an over-the-counter cold and flu medicine given to her by their doctor that contained pseudoephedrine before competing. Despite Răducan’s team appealing the findings, the International Olympic Committee stripped her of her individual all-around gold. She was able to keep the other medals since her other samples came back negative.

The Whyte Review

Starting in 2020, the Whyte Review, led by Anne Whyte, was commissioned in the UK to examine the practices of gymnastics. When it was released in 2022, the results shocked the nation. Whyte had discovered widespread evidence of abuse in the sport. One piece of evidence showed young athletes being belittled by coaches in public, being withheld food and water, humiliated, and forced to be painfully stretched until they sustained an injury. This horror left hundreds of young athletes broken by the experience. It wasn’t until 2023 that British Gymnastics began punishing the tormentors. However, the group was heavily criticized for only banning 62 coaches. Shortly after, British Gymnastics issued new legislation that gymnasts will have mandatory toilet and drink breaks.

USA Gymnastics Abuse Scandal

In 2016, after years of rumors, a report was published about the horrendous conduct of Larry Nassar, a Michigan State University employee and the team doctor of the United States women's national gymnastics team. For decades, he used his position to abuse and assault hundreds of gymnasts. Nassar continued to get away with his grim tirade thanks to officials who lied on his behalf and/or tampered with evidence. With a litany of charges against him, Nassar was sentenced to 60 years plus a further 40 to 175 years. In 2018, the MSU settled a host of lawsuits from victims for $500 million. The head of the 2012 US women’s gymnast team, John Geddert, was also charged with several crimes. However, he took his own life shortly after.