The greatest individual sporting lie?

[progressor]

Comparing Armstrong to Madoff Calm down dude, that's some pretty extreme hate there.

I'll go with dimspace. The whole Ben Johnson was so evil - and there was carl competing on multiple failed tests. Awesome Add to thatJohnson getting done for a drug he wasn't taking. Armstrongs lie is no bigger than so many other top athletes, and probably not as big as quite a few.

 

[unsheath]

The biggest cheat should be the one with the most nicknames.

Dopestrong, StrongArm, Uniballer..... List goes on!!

 

[pedaling squares]

Lance - known test results from 99, but damn difficult to pin much more on him since then despite overwhelming suspicion.. i really think there needs to be seperation from sport, and doping etc and what riders do outside of the sport as individuals be it charity work, philanthropy etc.

far bigger cheat for me, and worldwide in his prime far bigger known, Carl Lewis, multiple olympic champion, pretty all american image, but by his own admission a cheat.. Lewis even admits to failing drugs test in the olympic trials and it being covered up by the american olympic association...

by far one of the biggest frauds in sport for me..

Good call. At least Armstrong remains silent when others cheat. Lewis finished second in the 1988 100M sprint to another drug cheat, but made plenty of comments about Ben Johnson's drug use. He watched the man lose his medal, his world record, another record set months previously at the WC (when he did not test positive), go through a humiliating public inquiry in his home nation, lose his fortune and become an object of ridicule... and the whole time Lewis chirped about how clean he was and how dirty Ben was. He even accepted the SI Sportsman of the 20th Century award, now that's a laugh. Because the whole time he knew that he was a drug cheat too. Now that is a great sporting lie.

Hell of a singer though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJLvCM4j2mg

The 1972 Olympics when the US basketball team was shafted out of gold was a good one too. So was the figure skating judging in the 2002 Olympics when Sale/Pelletier were given silver because of a prior arrangement between the French/Russian judges. Those are good sporting lies, but maybe not individual sports lies as there was collusion.

 

[buckwheat]

Lance - known test results from 99, but damn difficult to pin much more on him since then despite overwhelming suspicion.. i really think there needs to be seperation from sport, and doping etc and what riders do outside of the sport as individuals be it charity work, philanthropy etc.

far bigger cheat for me, and worldwide in his prime far bigger known, Carl Lewis, multiple olympic champion, pretty all american image, but by his own admission a cheat.. Lewis even admits to failing drugs test in the olympic trials and it being covered up by the american olympic association...

by far one of the biggest frauds in sport for me..

Carl Lewis? What he was on was literally like a couple of cups of coffee. You get much better $hit at GNC. Armstrong by contrast, is a pharmaceutically engineered extra terrestrial.

At this point in time, Pharmstrong is the greatest fraud in sports history that hasn't been prosecuted or officially recognized.

 

[buckwheat]

Nice welcome douchebag, if you cared to read properly I was asking about other sportsmen who have exploited success based on lies to such an extent, not really Armstrong in particular, because he is already the most obvious exponent known to me. Aside from the comedic references the only new name that has been thrown out is Carl Lewis, so why don't you add something original about someone other than Armstrong rather than being a d*ck to a 'youngster'

Don't be so hard on him. He's a man in love.

 

[Galic Ho]

Nice welcome douchebag, if you cared to read properly I was asking about other sportsmen who have exploited success based on lies to such an extent, not really Armstrong in particular, because he is already the most obvious exponent known to me. Aside from the comedic references the only new name that has been thrown out is Carl Lewis, so why don't you add something original about someone other than Armstrong rather than being a d*ck to a 'youngster'

Ignore Speedster. Not everyone is at the same stage in there journey/understanding of the world. People forget this from time to time. Deliberate or accidental on Speedsters behalf? I can't answer that. You won't be the last person to change their opinion about Lance and do some research and find a foul stench and some skeletons. LA should have stayed away from cycling. More cash versus dimished legacy from all the fans he's ostracised in the last year with his crap? Greed explains a lot of it. Stupidity the rest. Be grateful he will be spanked next year by a number of riders. Can't wait for the excuses which will contradict all the earlier talk.

Mountain Goat and ChrisE I believe the proper term is 'sharded'. Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character did this in the Ben Stiller flic Along Came Polly. Funny but equally gross.

 

[gloryb141]

Marion Jones, Carl Lewis and yes, being Canadian, I remember all too well the Ben Johnson debacle. Poor *******. Everybody was doing it, but he was the fall guy. The rest were hypocrits.

These people were caught. There were a number of well known athletes that were using the services of that drug mill corporation in the States (pardon me I have forgotten the name of it). I think at this juncture, it would be difficult to say that LA is the biggest lie as he hasn't been officially caught cheating - - yet. He has to get caught cheating to fall in the same category as Marion Jones and Carl Lewis.

 

[Galic Ho]

Balco. Victor Conte. Claimed for years that Jones was dirty and he'd directly injected her with THG. Denied till the cows came home. Then Marion changes her tune over cheque fraud allegations and the results of the investigation which saw her facing 25 years in jail. Young children and a dirty past. Easy choice really, come clean.

gloryb141 Jones was never caught cheating. Not one failed test. They have more on Armstrong than they ever had on her. He doesn't have to get caught cheating to fall into the same category, but in his case that is probably the only thing other than a testimony that will sway the majority of the publics beliefs.

 

[clydesdale]

still say Carl Lewis myself...

Nah, I agree with you. Also, I always felt bad for Ben Johnson. A book I read a while back included a chapter on Ben's coach Charlie Francis where he speaks candidly about Ben Johnson's drug use (also, the point is made that everyone else in the Seoul '88 final eventually got busted for something yet Ben is the guy everyone remembers).

It's really quite funny. Charlie was quite candid with the author admitting to rampant drug use by Ben Johnson but what he kept stressing was that Ben Johnson was not on the steroid for which Ben tested positive. Mr. Francis seemed to take great pride in his ability to put together a drug program and an athlete of his testing positive is bad for business.

Didn't mean to hijack, carry on!

 

[Hugh Januss]

Mountain Goat and ChrisE I believe the proper term is 'sharded'. Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character did this in the Ben Stiller flic Along Came Polly. Funny but equally gross.

Not to take this too far off topic but I think Goat and ChrisE are correct (and you know I wouldn't agree with Chris if I could avoid it). I think that sharted is right, $hit+fart=shart, shart, sharted, sharting.

 

[BroDeal]

It's really quite funny. Charlie was quite candid with the author admitting to rampant drug use by Ben Johnson but what he kept stressing was that Ben Johnson was not on the steroid for which Ben tested positive. Mr. Francis seemed to take great pride in his ability to put together a drug program and an athlete of his testing positive is bad for business.

I remember reading that there was quite a lot of funny business with the values in Johnson's positive. Pure Stanozolol was found in his urine instead of a metabolite. Johnson has long maintained that he was set up--not that was not using drugs but he was not using the drug found in his urine. In fact he now claims that the U.S. team set him up.

 

[sherer]

interesting comments about Johnson. Almost makes you think there is some sort of secret "them" who decide who is and isn't caught for cheating

 

[ak-zaaf]

So the crux of this first post is, what has been the greatest lie by an individual i.e. not including the systematic doping programs of GDR/USSR/USA/CHN; in sports?

Lance did it in a sport where doping is pretty much acceptable and he beat mainly doped guys. No big deal IMO.

I think Tiger Woods (http://www.tlcvision.com/) is cheating/doping with this and he made a billion (?).

Rafa Nadal. Without him and Fuentes Federer would be a legend beyond comparison. Now he's beatable.

Johan Olav Koss in '94.

And since this is an Aussie forum: Ian Thorpe.

 

[DavidVilla7]

The way Lance Armstrong acted in the tour 2009 says enough about his personality............................ about EVERYTHING.

 

[DavidVilla7]

Lance did it in a sport where doping is pretty much acceptable and he beat mainly doped guys. No big deal IMO.

I think Tiger Woods (http://www.tlcvision.com/) is cheating/doping with this and he made a billion (?).

Rafa Nadal. Without him and Fuentes Federer would be a legend beyond comparison. Now he's beatable.

.

Sorry, but Rafa Nadal is not the only one who beated/ beats Federer.
And about Mr. woods, you never know? But I never looked at it in that way.


oh and about lance:
The way Lance Armstrong acted in the tour 2009 says enough about his personality............................ about EVERYTHING.

 

[ChrisE]

Not to take this too far off topic but I think Goat and ChrisE are correct (and you know I wouldn't agree with Chris if I could avoid it). I think that sharted is right, $hit+fart=shart, shart, sharted, sharting.

Yes, I would think you are right. Shard doesn't make sense.

I can't wait to tell my Algerian shyt can friend the term. I always wondered what somebody would do in that bathroom if they had the shyts or something, and chuckled at the thought as I ****ed into that stinky hole in the floor.

Then one day I get a phone call "man, you will never guess what happened to me..."

 

[forty four]

the american flyers and breaing away comments were quite funny anyways im almost certain the proper term is sharted=****/fart combo

 

[Hugh Januss]

the american flyers and breaing away comments were quite funny anyways im almost certain the proper term is sharted=****/fart combo

Good, then that's settled, what a relief.

 

[Anonymous]

Biggest sporting lie in history? I think it would have to be The Rock because I knew the whole time his name could not have been “The Rock”! His name was Dwayne Johnson and he played football for the Miami Hurricanes! All that time he was a sporting fraud calling himself the rock!

Another more disturbing find was when it was revealed that Hootie from the band Hootie and the blow fish was not his real name! Now I knew this also because who in their sound minds will call their kid Hootie? Darius Rucker will forever be a fraud to me!

 

[trompe le monde]

Weird thing about the Ben Johnson story is that some years ago both Tim Montgomery and Marion Jones were entertaining the idea of using Charlie Francis as a coach. Much outcry eventually dissuaded them from doing so in the end, but the bizarre parallel is that in Track and Field Francis was seen to accomplish his success with Ben Johnson through illicit means alone and association with him meant only one thing, you're looking for a way to cheat.

Turn the table around to Ferrari and I'm surprised that such a double standard exists to the application of guilt by association - I don't think sponsors and events threatened to exclude anyone by merely associating with Ferrari and yet in the world of athletics that was certainly the case when Jones and Montgomery wanted to saddle up and ride the Francis magic to gold medals. Strange how Nike would apply pressure on Marion Jones to cut the ties of association to Francis and yet couldn't be bothered that a certain cyclist who really only cares for racing in July was associated with Dr. Ferrari, someone as equally nebulous as Charlie Francis.


Here's a nice article that provides some context on how Jones and Montgomery were eventually dissuaded from using Francis.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/athletics-jones-is-back--with-all-her-baggage-575208.html

 

[Oldman]

Good, then that's settled, what a relief.

The pursuit of that true definition was an admirable display of forum cooperation.

 

[Polkadot09]

I have got to say that it has to be the Paralympic Spanish basketball team. The majority of the team were in fact athletes that were not good enough to compete in the Olympics. So they decided to make up a couple of conditions to get themselves into the Paralympic Games. I bet that Gold medal felt good!

The Nadal one is also an interesting point. Since the more rigorous testing came into place, Rafa has lost a bit of weight, does not look as powerful as once was and is losing on a regular basis now.

 

[Angliru]

The "I'm sorry that you don't believe in miracles" podium speech was it for me.
He just added to the shame with his 2009 parade of appearance fees all in the name of supposedly "spreading cancer awareness" while lining his pockets at almost a million a pop. Now we have the news that the team doctor for USPS and Discovery was in cahoots with another team's doctor in getting early warnings on the upcoming impromtu drug testing. Of course Armstrong knew nothing about any of this since he's not a hands on type of fella.

 

[Angliru]

Now, I do call BS on Breaking Away. Italians don't enter races with frame pumps on their bikes.

The movie did lose all credibility with me too at that point. Not that I liked it anyway with Costner in it.

 

[Hugh Januss]

The movie did lose all credibility with me too at that point. Not that I liked it anyway with Costner in it.

Costner was in the other one, Eddie Van Guyse was in Breaking Away.