2. Tonya Harding
Tonya Harding holds her place as the subject of the most infamous
Olympian-related scandal in history. If you don’t know the story, it goes a
little something like this: In 1994, Harding had her heart set on making the
U.S. figure skating team. She wanted it so badly, that she decided to
sabotage another skater, Nancy Kerrigan, who was also gunning for the
same spot. And by sabotage, we mean inflicting physical harm.
Yep, Harding, her ex-husband, and her bodyguard came up with a not-sobrilliant plan to break Kerrigan’s leg so that she’d be unable to compete,
thereby handing over the number one spot to Harding on a silver platter.
The ill-conceived plan went awry and Harding ultimately plead guilty to
covering up the attack, which landed her with probation and a lifetime
ban from her beloved sport. After the scandal, she did a pretty good job of
staying out of the public eye until 2000 when she was arrested on charges
of domestic violence after a scuffle with her boyfriend. Who knew figure
skaters were so violent?
3. Shaun White
With two gold medals under his belt, Shaun White (aka The Flying Tomato) is one of the most
talented snowboarders to ever hit the slopes. Unfortunately, in 2012, the olympian made
headlines for something much less admirable—an arrest. White, who was 26 at the time, was
busted for vandalism and public intoxication after he pulled a fire alarm and broke the phone
at his Nashville hotel.
4. Michael Phelps
Michael Phelps rose to stardom when his
swimming abilities had the world wondering if
he was actually some sort of fish/merman
hybrid. Seriously, the guy won 22 gold medals
over the course of his career—22! However,
like Shaun White, Phelps’ athletic talents were
pushed aside when photos of the swimmer
smoking weed at a college party went viral.
He wasn’t arrested, but he did face some harsh
consequences in the athletic arena. Many
people don’t know this, but the marijuana
incident wasn’t Phelps’ first bout of illegal
behavior. In 2004, when he was just 19 years
old, Phelps was busted for drunk driving in
Maryland. He pled guilty to the DUI charge and
was put on probation.
5. Joshua Booth
Australian rower Joshua Booth was arrested not too long after he failed to place in one of his
events during the 2012 London Olympics. The charges? Well, apparently Booth was pretty upset
about not winning a medal and decided to drown his sorrows. The drunken athlete was arrested
after he allegedly damaged a storefront while under the influence. Yikes! Better luck next time,
Booth.
6. Ryan Wedding
Pro snowboarder Ryan Wedding garnered quite the
bad-boy reputation back in 2008 when he was arrested
on drug trafficking charges. He was caught in Los
Angeles after he sold a kilogram of cocaine for a
whopping $17,000 dollars. A kilo of cocaine? That’s 2.2
pounds! Selling coke is bad enough, but get this:
Wedding sold the drugs to undercover FBI agents!
The illegal transaction led agents to Wedding’s hotel
room where they discovered $100,000 in cash. In 2010,
he was sentenced to four years, which meant that he’d
be absent from the next two rounds of the Winter
Olympics. Will he be competing in the 2018 games?
Welp, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!
7. Marion Jones
Marion Jones made a name for herself after she
won five gold medals in track and field events
during the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. However, after
the games were over, she became the subject of a
media frenzy due to doping allegations. She
eventually admitted to using performanceenhancing drugs, but that wasn’t the end of it.
In 2007, Jones’ bad behavior made headlines yet
again, but this time the allegations were criminal.
She was busted (and pled guilty) to fraud due to her
involvement in a check-counterfeiting scheme and
was sentenced to six months in the slammer.
Olympian and Tim Montgomery was also involved,
which brings us to number 7 . . .
8. Tim Montgomery
Dubbed “The Fastest Man In The World” in 2002, Tim Montgomery’s future was brighter than ever . . .
until he decided to become a criminal. So you read the deets about Marion Jones above, right? Well,
Montgomery (a fellow Olympic gold medalist in track and field) was also involved in all that drama.
Seriously, the story is almost identical. He was caught using steroids, and then pled guilty to bank
fraud in 2007 after conspiring to deposit upwards of $5 million in counterfeit checks to various bank
accounts. So, what was the damage? Montgomery was sentenced to four years in prison, and then, as
if that wasn’t bad enough, he was also found guilty of dealing heroin which tacked on an additional
five years to his time behind bars.
9. Ross Rebagliati
The 1998 Winter Olympics marked a turning point for the
men’s snowboarding, and Canadian Ross Rebagliati was the
first person to ever win an Olympic gold medal for the sport.
Unfortunately, his triumph was overshadowed when he tested
positive for marijuana after the games had finished. Rebagliati
was stripped of his medal, but he appealed the ruling, and
just a couple days later, his gold medal was reinstated.
However, he continues to be known more for his weedsmoking than his snowboarding, but that seems to be a trend
when it comes to athletes with an affinity for the green stuff
(we’re talking to you, Michael Phelps). Turns out Rebagliati is
now an advocate for the legalization of marijuana . . . how
ironic!
10. Oscar Pistorius
Did you think we’d make this list and forget to
include Oscar Pistorius? No way, jose. Surely
you’ve heard about the Pistorius drama. You
know, the whole murder thing? Yeah, that. Well,
if you’re not up-to-date, then here’s the scoop:
Pistorius, a double-amputee Olympic sprinter
from South Africa, had fans all across the globe
until one fateful night.
On February 14, 2013 (that’s Valentine’s day,
folks) Pistorius’ model girlfriend was shot dead
inside his home. He admitted to shooting her,
but he claimed that he fired the shots because
he thought she was an intruder. His story didn’t
go very far with officials, and the following day
Pistorius was charged with murder. His trial is
scheduled to begin in March, so we won’t know
his fate until the final verdict is handed down.
11. Bill Marolt, George Farmer, Mike Hessel
These three Olympians are grouped together
because they all got busted together at the
1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.
Marolt, a skier, and Farmer and Hessel, both
tobogganists, were leaving a party together
when they decided to hop in an unlocked car
and go for a joyride. Call us crazy, but that
probably wasn’t the smartest decision.
Pictured above: Bill Marolt
Anyway, the trio was stopped by police after
they were seen driving the wrong way down a
one-way street, and the incident escalated from
there. Fighting words were exchanged, and
then it turned physical. The three Olympians
were arrested for attacking and insulting police
officers and they were taken into custody.
Turns out one of these guys didn’t learn their
lesson; Bill Marolt was busted again in 2010 for
drunk driving.
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