10 Times Sports Cheating DESTROYED Lives

Tom Simpson

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1967 The Tour de France is one of the biggest competitions around for cyclists. Each competitor wants to do their best and can go to extremes. In 1967, suffering from illness, British biker Tom Simpson was behind in the race. With the hot temperature of 54 degrees Celsius, Simpson was climbing the grueling Mont Ventoux. Having fallen off his bike, Simpson ignored the advice from his team and continued to cycle. Shortly after, he passed out, requiring CPR. After getting airlifted to a hospital, the 29-year-old Simpson was declared deceased. Officially, the cause was attributed to heart failure from exhaustion. However, after discovering amphetamines in Simpson’s possessions, further tests found the substance and alcohol within his system.

2007 After the 2000 Summer Olympics, American track and field athlete Marion Jones was one of the best in the world after picking up three gold and two bronze medals. But once the BALCO scandal broke, Jones was linked to using banned substances as her former partners were found to have been using. After years of denying it, in 2007, she admitted she used steroids to win her medal collection in 2000. Facing a court case for making false statements to federal agents during the investigation, Jones pled guilty. She was sentenced to six months in prison in 2008. On top of this, the legal issues had left Jones broke, requiring her to sell numerous properties. She also handed back her five Olympic medals.

2010 After rumors of corruption within the Pakistan cricket team began to come out, the now-defunct newspaper The News of the World went undercover to meet with sports agent Mazhar Majeed. In exchange for £150,000, Majeed would arrange for specific spots to happen during the fourth test between England and Pakistan. Three Pakistani players, Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif, and Mohammad Amir, were mentioned in the report. After an investigation by the International Cricket Council, each was banned from playing professionally for years. Then, a criminal investigation happened for defrauding bookmakers. In 2011, Majeed received a sentence of two years and eight months, Butt got two years and six months, Asif got one year, and Amir got six months.

1969 In 1968, the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race was set to begin. This event was a non-stop sailing competition around the world with several prizes, including £5000 for the fastest time. Donald Crowhurst, whose business was struggling, saw this as an opportunity to turn things around. As he entered the race, it seemed like Crowhurst was somehow going toe-to-toe with the professionals. In reality, he was lying about his location and even broke the rules to fix his boat on land. As competitors dropped out, Crowhurst was set to take second place and perhaps the money. But with the pressure of his deception likely to be exposed, his mental health deteriorated. In July 1969, his boat was found, with no sign of Crowhurst.

2012 It’s normal for teams to offer financial bonuses for players' performances as an incentive. But issuing bounties to purposely injure opposition players isn’t. In 2012, this was the case for the NFL’s New Orleans Saints. From 2009 to 2011, up to 27 players were encouraged to deliberately hurt key opponents in exchange for some cash. This malicious scheme involved numerous parties including team’s then defensive coordinator Gregg Williams and former head coach Sean Payton. In response, the NFL came down hard on the Saints. Not only were they fined $500,000, but Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season, and others were also handed bans.

2003 In 2003, Baylor University was rocked when basketball player Patrick Dennehy was killed by his teammate Carlton Dotson. This event sparked the National Collegiate Athletic Association to investigate the university. They found that Baylor had reached the limit of scholarships, so head coach Dave Bliss had been paying the tuition for Dennehy and Corey Herring. To start with, Bliss told the NCAA that Dennehy was paying his tuition by being a dealer, which wasn’t true. The group then found that Bliss disobeyed several NCAA regulations, and even allowed his players to engage in substance abuse. With Baylor’s basketball program in tatters, Bliss resigned and received a ten-year show-cause penalty, which essentially meant the NCAA would monitor him should another affiliate school hire him.

2012 From inspiring many to take up cycling to creating a successful non-profit in what’s now known as the Livestrong Foundation, everything seemed great for Lance Armstrong. But then, allegations about his cheating began to trickle out. In 2012, the United States Anti-Doping Agency charged Armstrong with doping and trafficking substances. Along with his achievements being taken away since 1998 and getting a lifetime ban from cycling, Armstrong’s name was mud in sport. In 2013, he admitted to the doping accusations. Since then, Armstrong has had to pay numerous court settlements for his deception, costing him millions of dollars. In interviews, he admitted that if he hadn't invested in Uber in 2009, his family would've been financially ruined.

Tim Donaghy

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2007 For 13 years, Tim Donaghy was one of the biggest NBA referees in the game. But that all fell apart in 2007 when the FBI began investigating him. Donaghy was accused of manipulating the point spread in games he officiated as he, or his two associates from high school, placed large bets on the outcome. At the same time, as the news of the scandal came out, Donaghy’s wife filed for divorce. He was also initially fined a total of $530,000 for his match-fixing. In 2008, Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in prison. While his associates James Battista also got 15 months, and Thomas Martino got one year and a day.

The Calciopoli

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2006 In 2006, football’s reputation took a massive hit when the Calciopoli scandal erupted in Italy. Club administrators and referee groups had been influencing which officials would be selected in certain Serie A and B games, making the results favorable for them. Juventus were stripped of their last two titles and relegated. While AC Milan, Lazio, Reggina, and Fiorentina faced various sanctions. Numerous officials and administrators involved received long-term bans from the sport and were sentenced to prison. However, most of the sentences handed out were acquitted or overturned by 2015. Yet, even so, many had their standing in the footballing world tarnished forever. One who wasn’t acquitted was ref Massimo De Santis. His one-year suspended sentence remained in place.

1983 In 1983, the undefeated 21-year-old Billy Collins Jr. took on Luis Resto. After 10 rounds, the judges unanimously gave the match to Resto. But what was shocking was the damage to Collins’s face. When Collins’s father and trainer shook Resto's hand, he noticed his glove was thin. It turned out an ounce of padding had been removed by Resto’s trainer, and the boxer’s wraps were essentially turned into plaster casts. The reason was down to large bets on the bout’s outcome. The savage injuries sustained by Collins forced him to quit the profession. Less than a year later, he passed away from a car crash. Resto was banned from boxing and later sentenced to prison for two and a half years.