First chess, now fishing and poker – famous cheating scandals rocked sports | World News | So Good News

In recent weeks, the worlds of chess, fishing and poker have been rocked by cheating scandals.

From weights placed on the fish aggravating them is sensational to the world champion withdraw from the tournament After a move, allegations of fraud always quickly make headlines.

Here, Sky News looks at how sports stars have tried and failed to break the rules over the years.

Poker

Last week, a high-stakes poker game was canceled at the Hustler Casino in Los Angeles.

It came after player Robbie Jade Lew called his opponent Garrett Adelstein’s bluff – despite not having enough of a hand.

It would have won him $269,000 (£241,000), but after receiving a cold stare from his opponent and claims that he “intimidated” him for such a dramatic move, he handed back his winning chips.

Adelstein speculated that Lew may have used a vibrating device to give him advance information.

On Twitter, he said Lew “clearly cheated,” and Adelstein challenged him to a rematch.

Poker officials are investigating but say there is no evidence of foul play at this time.

Rugby

In April 2009, a rugby union quarter-final between Harlequins and Leinster revealed the biggest scandal in the sport’s history – Bloodgate.

Late in the Heineken Cup game, Harlequins fly-half Nick Evans was injured and was replaced by Chris Malone.

But after 20 minutes, Malone tore his hamstring and was replaced by winger Tom Williams.

With eight minutes to go, Harlequins were 6-5 down and missed a penalty opportunity when defender Mike Brown kicked the ball wide.

At this point, Williams is out with an open injury, so Evans could return to the field as a better option – despite being substituted earlier.

It turns out Williams faked his injury with a capsule of fake blood. Harlequins still lost the game.

An investigation by the Rugby Football Union and the European Rugby Cup revealed that Harlequins had also bled to facilitate four tactical substitutions.

As a result, the club was fined £260,000, Williams was banned for four months, then director of rugby Dean Richards was banned for three years, and club chairman Charles Gillings resigned.

Harlequin’s doctor, Wendy Chapman, was suspended by the General Medical Council after it was revealed she cut off Williams’ lip to cover up the use of artificial blood.

After the investigation, he was allowed to practice medicine.

Paralympic basketball

Spain’s entire basketball team was disqualified for cheating at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and athletes with intellectual disabilities were banned from representing any country in the 2004 and 2008 games.

It has ruined the careers of thousands of disabled athletes around the world.

The scandal began after Spain won gold in the basketball final by defeating Russia.

When pictures of the athletes celebrating were posted, readers commented that they knew the team members and that they were not disabled.

It turned out that 10 of the 12 players were not disabled and had deliberately failed IQ tests because they were thought to be intellectually disabled.

Player Carlos Ribagorda later revealed in a magazine interview that he was not disabled, and was told by a coach, “Guys, get down a gear or they’ll know you’re not disabled.”

Behind the story was the president of the Spanish Federation of Sports for People with Intellectual Disabilities and the vice-president of the Spanish Paralympic Committee.

He pleaded guilty to fraud and was fined £4,600.

This meant that 10 bogus Paralympians and eight other defendants were charged.

Ice skating

The bitter rivalry between American figure skater Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan is depicted in the film I, Tonya starring Margot Robbie.

It revolved around the sensational sabotage of Kerrigan by Harding’s ex-husband Jeff Gillooly.

During the 1994 US Women’s Championship final practice in Detroit, Kerrigan was hit in the knee with a police baton by an assassin named Shane Stant, hired by Gillooly.

Kerrigan’s: “Why? Why me?”

As you know, the hit was called “a hit heard around the world.”

It was later revealed that Gillooly had paid Stant $6,500 (£5,726) to incapacitate his ex-wife’s opponent ahead of the Winter Olympics in Norway.

Harding won gold at the championships, but Kerrigan’s injury recovered quickly, meaning she still beat Harding at the Olympics the following month – a silver compared to eighth place.

Gillooly was sentenced to two years in prison, while Harding was placed on three years’ probation and fined $10,000 (£8,814) for conspiracy to hinder prosecution.

He claimed the move was actually meant to sabotage him – only after he got Gilloli back as part of a PR stunt orchestrated by his management.

Boston Marathon

Rosie Ruiz was recognized as a marathon cheat when someone remembers her taking the New York City subway to run a race around the city.

Originally from Cuba, Ruiz finished 11th in the 1979 New York City Marathon – a complete unknown in the running world.

He applied for the race after the deadline, but was allowed to run after falsely claiming he was dying of brain cancer.

The following year, he won the Boston Marathon in record time.

Questions soon arose as to how Ruiz could finish 25 minutes ahead of the New York finish time.

Experts and other runners noted that he could not recall any splits and that his resting heart rate was unusually high for a marathoner.

The cameras didn’t capture much of his race.

Read more on Sky News:
‘Fire them all’: Australian media slams cricket team over cheating scandal
All Russian teams will be banned from the Rio Olympics after a doping investigation revealed systemic cheating
An elite cyclist has been banned for having an electric motor hidden in his bike

A freelance photographer who saw Ruiz on the subway during the race in New York City exposed his cheating.

As it turns out, he didn’t run the full Boston race, but instead jumped and waited a mile to the finish line before sprinting to the finish.

Ruiz was stripped of his medals, spent some time in prison before his death in 2019 at the age of 66, and was embroiled in various fraud scandals.