The Old Fashioned Cheater Thread

[BroDeal]

As has been noted, The Clinic has morphed into something that is not just about drugs. So this is a thread for good old fashioned cheating.

I'll start it off with a doozy. Notorious running cheat, Kip Litton, has now been written about in The New Yorker. The exact method of cheating has fascinated and stumped amateur running sleuths for quite a while. He appears to start races several minutes late so that he has an excuse for those he is competing against not seeing him on the course. He walks across the timing mat then appears at the finish with a fantastic chip time, sometimes wearing different clothes and even different shoes. The logistics in many races with interim time mats is quite complex, and he seems to be a good runner who has to run some sections to make the plans work.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/08/06/120806fa_fact_singer

If you have a few hours to kill, google Kip Litton. There is an entire blog devoted to his exploits. There are also several forum threads where the members have sifted through race pictures and splits to figure out how he does it, like the LetsRun thread below (225 pages).

http://www.writingaboutrunning.com/2011/01/outing-of-kip-litton.html

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3863010&page=0

 

[FitSsikS]

What a noble character. Running (or not) for a charity is.....well it's something.
On the other hand he is a dentist and living with constant suicidal thoughts can't be easy.

 

[BroDeal]

What a noble character. Running (or not) for a charity is.....well it's something.
On the other hand he is a dentist and living with constant suicidal thoughts can't be easy.

Kip did invent a new form of cheating. He bolstered his running resume with wins of fake marathons, which were created complete with their own websites and results. He even submitted the results to athlinks.

He also raced under fake names, apparently to test his cheating method.

 

[FitSsikS]

He also raced under fake names, apparently to test his cheating method.

I think even Walter Mitty would have said, "What the..? Bring it down a notch pal!"

Quite the read.

 

[zlev11]

there used to be all kinds of great cheating in NASCAR back in the 80's and 90's (i say great because a lot of it was actually very clever).

teams would show up to the Daytona 500 with a whole winters worth of rigged up parts for their cars. the first inspection day would be a lot like recent Grand Tours, with crew chiefs getting bounced and fined for the most ridiculous stuff.

it's tapered off in past years since NASCAR is barely even a sport any longer, but back when it was fun to follow there was a lot of great cheating "innovations".

 

[BroDeal]

Great moments in cheating! This one cracks me up. A water skier with his own lake set several national and world records for age group slalom skiing. He was eventually found to have rigged the bouys with an underwater cable system that would bring them closer to center for his runs.

The funny thing is this article from before he was caught. It displays all the usual explanations for his startling performance.

http://waterskimag.com/features/2005/03/22/is-dr-michaels-for-real/

Then he is caught.

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1796-dr-michaels-gets-the-boot/

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Great moments in cheating! This one cracks me up. A water skier with his own lake set several national and world records for age group slalom skiing. He was eventually found to have rigged the bouys with an underwater cable system that would bring them closer to center for his runs.

The funny thing is this article from before he was caught. It displays all the usual explanations for his startling performance.

http://waterskimag.com/features/2005/03/22/is-dr-michaels-for-real/

Then he is caught.

http://www.themalibucrew.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1796-dr-michaels-gets-the-boot/

“Jim has taken the most professional approach to slalom skiing that I've seen in 25 years.”

Switch the name, and the sport, and it all sounds eerily familiar...

 

[ElChingon]

What about the cheating of a teammate? Is that worthy of this thread? As in if a rider says, "hey help me win this race at a cost of you winning and at the next race I'll help you", then it never happens.Old Fashioned Cheater or just a sly dog

 

[noddy69]

Boris Onishchenko, got to be up there as one of the best. In the fencing in 76 summer olympics in the pentathlon he modified the grip on his weapon....you know what I mean...so that he could press it and it would register a touch and score him points without actually hitting his opponent....Thats real cheating.

 

[FitSsikS]

Boris Onishchenko, got to be up there as one of the best. In the fencing in 76 summer olympics in the pentathlon he modified the grip on his weapon....you know what I mean...so that he could press it and it would register a touch and score him points without actually hitting his opponent....Thats real cheating.

Haha! Thanx for the reminder, I forgot all about him!

 

[mikkemus23]

Lol.
What`s up with dentist anyway?

 

[gjdavis60]

2005 BAR Honda F1 team for using concealed, supplemental fuel tanks in the car that, when full, contributed to the curb weight allowing the actual weight to be below regulation. This was the infamous "fuel as ballast" cheat.

 

[D-Queued]

A thread like this cannot go without the mention of Rosie Ruiz.

Just posting the obvious... for completeness.

Dave.

 

[FitSsikS]

A thread like this cannot go without the mention of Rosie Ruiz.

Just posting the obvious... for completeness.

Dave.

Hehe I remember some of the Rosie Ruiz jokes:

When asked if she was worried about 'hitting the wall' Rosie said that she, "would keep her eyes open and try to avoid it."

and about her 'splits':

"Oh not very good, I can hardly touch my toes."

 

[doperhopper]

this thread would be incomplete without this case, probably the only when Dr. Orange Juice tried non-medical "doping":

Ferrari's daughter, Sara, was also a gifted athlete, Capodacqua told me. At one point, she ran a sub-2:30 marathon, even faster than her old man in his heyday. In 1999, she was competing in a triathlon in Lavarone, Italy. At 22 years old, she was ranked in the top 25 in Italy, and seemed sure to improve. On the bike leg of the race, however, she was spotted receiving a push from an older male cyclist, who turned out to be wearing a fake race number.

She was disqualified. The man who pushed her: Her father.
The story had been reported in the European press, but I'd never seen it. So my translator and I tracked down Italo Botter, the head judge of that race. Botter confirmed the story. He said he even keeps a report of the infraction framed on his office wall.

 

[Cavalier]

Ha, can we add this one?
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/oly...versy-mars-gb-sprint-gold-20120803-23jlx.html

"We were saying if we have a bad start we need to crash to get a restart," Hindes said. "I just crashed, I did it on purpose to get a restart, just to have the fastest ride. I did it. So it was all planned, really."

 

[BroDeal]

We'll call this the Hamilton Twin Ploy:

The Motsoeneng brothers

The Comrades Marathon is known for being one of the toughest races in the world. A 56-mile run between the South African cities of Durban and Pietermaritzburg, it is the world’s oldest ultramarathon. At the 1999 edition of the race, brothers Sergio and Fika Motsoeneng almost pulled off the perfect racing deception by exchanging places with each other at half way during a toilet stop, eventually finishing ninth overall. But their plan was exposed when it was noticed in the post-race footage that the brothers wore their watches on different wrists. Sergio Motsoeneng is still running to this day, although he is currently serving a two-month suspension after testing positive for nandrolone.

 

[daveinzambia]

am enjoying this thread. love the fact that everyone knows that dentist is cheating but no one is quite sure exactly how he is doing it.

and going to start hunting for some more examples...

 

[BroDeal]

A bunch of good ones.

http://www.cracked.com/article_16073_the-7-ballsiest-sports-cheats-ever.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_19801_the-6-ballsiest-sports-cheats-all-time.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_1979...Science&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=recommended

The first one from the first URL:

One thing people would never sully with deception is the Paralympics (which is like the Special Olympics, where people with disabilities compete). Right? Who would stoop as low as that?

The short answer: the Spanish. In an act of desperation so pathetic it inspires pity, some of the players on the Spaniards' gold medal-winning Paralympic basketball team turned out not be disabled at all. Yes, that South Park episode and that Johnny Knoxville movie both turned out to be based on a true story.

Undercover journalist, Carlos Ribagorda, blew the lid off the scandal. You may assume that only one or two of the overall squad was ineligible, but that would be underestimating the desperation of the Spanish. A whopping 10 of the 12 members of the basketball squad had no mental difficulty. They were just athletes that sucked enough to not make it into the Olympic team.

Did it work?
The Spaniards were disqualified from the basketball competition and stripped of their title. There was no evidence of any wrongdoing in other Paralympic events, and we're going to accept that the rest of them were disabled. The alternative, which is that most of their athletes were normal and yet only finished third overall, is too sad to contemplate.

 

[daveinzambia]

Saw those, am sure there are a few others that have pushed the rules in paralympics just not as blatantly.

Tonya Harding has to be up there just from the shear nastiness of the whole thing. thats real old skool

http://figureskating.about.com/od/famousfemaleiceskaters/p/harding.htm

 

[daveinzambia]

A bunch of good ones.

http://www.cracked.com/article_16073_the-7-ballsiest-sports-cheats-ever.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_19801_the-6-ballsiest-sports-cheats-all-time.html

http://www.cracked.com/article_1979...Science&wa_user3=article&wa_user4=recommended

The first one from the first URL:

One thing people would never sully with deception is the Paralympics (which is like the Special Olympics, where people with disabilities compete). Right? Who would stoop as low as that?

The short answer: the Spanish. In an act of desperation so pathetic it inspires pity, some of the players on the Spaniards' gold medal-winning Paralympic basketball team turned out not be disabled at all. Yes, that South Park episode and that Johnny Knoxville movie both turned out to be based on a true story.

Undercover journalist, Carlos Ribagorda, blew the lid off the scandal. You may assume that only one or two of the overall squad was ineligible, but that would be underestimating the desperation of the Spanish. A whopping 10 of the 12 members of the basketball squad had no mental difficulty. They were just athletes that sucked enough to not make it into the Olympic team.

Did it work?
The Spaniards were disqualified from the basketball competition and stripped of their title. There was no evidence of any wrongdoing in other Paralympic events, and we're going to accept that the rest of them were disabled. The alternative, which is that most of their athletes were normal and yet only finished third overall, is too sad to contemplate.

oh and as a Saints fan we prefer not to remember number 2 on the balliest list. although Ali frequently makes the list for the worst premier league player ever. Bloody Grahame Souness

 

[clipperton]

another cheating pom.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-11055639

Harlequins were trailing 6-5 against Leinster during the Heineken Cup quarter-final tie at the Stoop, Twickenham, when Williams bit the fake blood capsule.

The deceit engineered a "blood replacement", which allowed a substituted specialist kicker back on to the field in the closing minutes of the tie in April 2009.

 

[D-Queued]

Might as well add a couple of freaks:

Track Cycling's Tammy Thomas, who spent more time shaving her face than her legs.

And... from the 1936 Olympics...

Dora (aka Herman) Ratjen.

Given the context of Jesse Owens and the whole superiority thing dominating those games, that a man posed as a woman should be taken into context.

Unfortunately, Ratjen wasn't even good enough for a medal against the women.

Dave.

 

[Viking]

there used to be all kinds of great cheating in NASCAR back in the 80's and 90's (i say great because a lot of it was actually very clever).

teams would show up to the Daytona 500 with a whole winters worth of rigged up parts for their cars. the first inspection day would be a lot like recent Grand Tours, with crew chiefs getting bounced and fined for the most ridiculous stuff.

it's tapered off in past years since NASCAR is barely even a sport any longer, but back when it was fun to follow there was a lot of great cheating "innovations".

The greatest (most widespread, most innovative, just plain insane) cheating in NASCAR was during the '60s:

"It’s generally agreed that NASCAR cheating reached its high-water mark (or low water mark, depending on your view) in 1966, when Yunick built a Chevelle that looked exactly like one off the production line, but was actually one-eighth smaller, reducing aerodynamic drag and making the car dramatically faster."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-drive/car-life/nascars-golden-age-of-cheating/article4178760/

 

[pedaling squares]

So what about a track racer who deliberately dumps his bike after a poor start to secure a re-start? Not against any rules, except of course those that require an honest effort in competition.