7 Dubious Ways to Gain an Olympic Edge

The Winter Olympics are supposed to be a shining beacon of sportsmanship and goodwill, but things don't always work out that way. Sure, you know all about Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan, but there have been all sorts of other scandals in which an Olympian used dubious tactics to gain an advantage. Some tricks were successful, others failed, and some of them deserve gold medals for shear gall.

1. See a Mysterious Black Figure

Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy was on his way to sweeping the three alpine skiing events at the 1968 Games in Grenoble if he could take the slalom gold, and his run in the event had been blisteringly fast. Killy's Austrian rival, Karl Schranz, wasn't faring so well. In the middle of his slalom run, he stopped and claimed that a mysterious black-clad figure had crossed his path. Schranz demanded a second run with no distractions, and this time he beat Killy to take the gold.

Race officials huddled, though, and realized that Schranz had actually missed a gate well before the alleged black-clad figure crossed his path. The judges eventually decided to disqualify Schranz for missing the gate. On top of that, none of them had even seen this mysterious figure scamper across the course. The officials yanked Schranz's medal and gave it to Killy.

This episode is still quite controversial. Killy backers swear that Schranz made up the story about the black-clad figure after realizing he'd missed a gate, while Schranz fans claim that the French judges or police snuck a man across the course to distract Schranz and help local boy Killy.

2. Accuse the Competitors of Loafing

The Europeans were already behind the 8-ball thanks to these weird starts, but things got even stranger in the second heat of the 1500 meter event. The judges stopped the heat when it was halfway over, berated the competitors for "loafing," and restarted the race. No big surprise: Americans swept the four speed skating gold medals, and only two Europeans medaled.

3. Whack the Coach

Although hockey can be a violent game, its players usually adhere to a certain code of ethics regarding fighting. Of course, some players take a pretty loose interpretation of these unwritten rules. Just ask Sweden's Karl Oberg. During a match against Canada at the 1964 Games, Oberg lost his cool and smacked Canadian coach David Bauer in the head with his stick. That sounds pretty bad, but it gets worse: Bauer's full title was Father David Bauer. He was also an ordained Catholic priest.

Father David apparently preferred divine retribution to pulling a sweater over the other guy's head. He ordered his players not to retaliate against Oberg, and although they were all itching to drop the gloves and go after the thug, the Canadians left him alone and cruised to a 3-2 win.

4. Break Out the Citrus

It's not just Olympians who can be a bit uncouth; the fans can get out of control, too. At the 1956 Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, spectators were not happy about the scores the German figure skating pair of Marika Kilius and Franz Ningel received after their performance, so they bombarded the judges and the referee with a barrage of oranges. The citrus artillery continued and the ice had to be cleared three times. The German pair still only finished in fourth place.

5. Get Physical

Short track speed skater Cathy Turner didn't take the ice to make friends. The American skater repeatedly bumped and clipped skates with other competitors throughout the 1994 Winter Olympics, but her most controversial moment came in the final of the 500 meters. With two laps to go, she passed Chinese skater Zhang Yanmei. During the pass she brushed Zhang's thigh, but Turner went on to win the gold.

An enraged Zhang protested that Turner hadn't just brushed her thigh; the American had actually grabbed her. Judges couldn't tell from the video replays, so Turner's medal stood. Turner, who also worked as a singer, then wowed the crowd with one of her compositions, a song called "Sexy Kinky Tomboy."

6. Send in the Professional Amateurs

While you'll be able to see your favorite NHL players take the ice in Vancouver, professionals weren't always welcome at the Games. Prior to the 1998 Games, ice hockey players were supposed to be amateurs, so most countries sent their best players who hadn't made the pro ranks yet.

Of course, Communist countries found a loophole in this system. The Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, and other countries declared that there weren't any professional hockey players in their countries. Their teams were made up of amateurs employed by the government, so they weren't technically NHL-style pro hockey players.

This flouting of the rules so enraged other countries that Canada skipped the hockey events at the 1972 and 1976 Games, with Sweden joining the boycott for the 1976 Winter Olympics.

7. Buy Off a Judge

A little bit of digging showed that the judges from Russia, China, Poland, Ukraine, and France had all felt the clearly inferior Russians' routine was gold-worthy. The French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne then admitted that she'd only voted for the Russians because her boss at the French skating union twisted her arm. There was allegedly a deal in place to boost the French ice dancing team's scores in exchange for a little assist for the Russian pairs skaters.

In the end, the Canadian pair had their medals upgraded to gold, but the Russians got to keep their golds as well.