11 votes

The greatest Olympic cheat - The curious case of the electrified épée

6 comments

  1. [6]
    AugustusFerdinand
    Link

    The Summer Olympics, which were supposed to open this week, have seen their share of competitive scandals—but none more bold or bizarre than Soviet pentathlete Boris Onischenko and his doctored fencing sword.

    2 votes
    1. [5]
      imperialismus
      Link Parent
      Interesting story about a little-known sport. I would challenge the claim of greatest Olympic cheat with a couple of worthy contenders: In the 2000 Paralympics, Spain entered a team in the...

      Interesting story about a little-known sport.

      I would challenge the claim of greatest Olympic cheat with a couple of worthy contenders: In the 2000 Paralympics, Spain entered a team in the basketball for people with intellectual disabilities event with 10 out of 12 athletes not actually being intellectually disabled. They won, but were soon exposed. It led to all sports for people with intellectual disabilities being cancelled for years as the entire category of sports and its qualifications for entry were challenged.

      Also, more amusingly, in the Summer Olympics of 1904, Frederick Lorz crossed the finish line first in the marathon and was initially celebrated as winner, even though he had ridden in a car for most of the race. He quickly admitted that the whole thing was a joke, and went on to win the Boston Marathon legitimately next year.

      3 votes
      1. [4]
        AugustusFerdinand
        Link Parent
        I'd argue that the Spanish 2000 Paralympic team wouldn't qualify as I'm taking the term "cheat" as an individual instead of an act. As for Frederick Lorz, there was no real planning involved as...

        I'd argue that the Spanish 2000 Paralympic team wouldn't qualify as I'm taking the term "cheat" as an individual instead of an act.

        As for Frederick Lorz, there was no real planning involved as I'm understanding it. He was tired, got a lift, and then crossed the finish line first. There was none of the years long planning involved and it's now or never weight involved. Note, I'm not saying Boris Onischenko was/is the greatest olympic cheat, just participating in debate with your examples.

        2 votes
        1. [3]
          imperialismus
          Link Parent
          I can’t imagine a good reason why organized cheating by multiple individuals is not considered cheating. It’s simply cheating on a larger scale. It’s the kind of cheating that the Russians (and...

          I can’t imagine a good reason why organized cheating by multiple individuals is not considered cheating. It’s simply cheating on a larger scale. It’s the kind of cheating that the Russians (and likely others) were doing with doping, except the example I cited wasn’t about doping.

          I can agree that Lorz wasn’t as pre-planned as Onischenko, but on the other hand, he wasn’t caught until after he was celebrated as winner, rather than disqualified in the early stages of a tournament.

          Anyway I don’t think we can come up with an objective set of criteria for greatest Olympic cheat, I just wanted to mention a couple of examples which I personally consider equally great.

          2 votes
          1. [2]
            AugustusFerdinand
            Link Parent
            I'm not saying it's not cheating. I'm saying the Spanish team don't meet the criteria of the singular noun "cheat". In the case of Lorz, not being caught until after the fact is the standard for...

            I can’t imagine a good reason why organized cheating by multiple individuals is not considered cheating. It’s simply cheating on a larger scale. It’s the kind of cheating that the Russians (and likely others) were doing with doping, except the example I cited wasn’t about doping.

            I'm not saying it's not cheating. I'm saying the Spanish team don't meet the criteria of the singular noun "cheat".

            In the case of Lorz, not being caught until after the fact is the standard for cheaters, so I'm not sure how that'd put him in the running as greatest.

            1. imperialismus
              Link Parent
              I can’t be bothered to argue semantics. A cheat is either a person who commits fraud or an act of deception. As for Lorz, imagine a person shows up to a bicycle race with a motorcycle and gets...

              I can’t be bothered to argue semantics. A cheat is either a person who commits fraud or an act of deception.

              As for Lorz, imagine a person shows up to a bicycle race with a motorcycle and gets instantly disqualified. Would that be a great cheat? Of course not. The impact of cheating is proportional to how far the cheater gets before being caught. Lance Armstrong is a greater cheater than a random dumbass who got caught for doping before achieving anything - because he was a celebrated champion before he got caught. It’s about the impact on the sport as a whole. Having an entire sport canceled for 4+ years seems more impactful than a single disqualified athlete.