Crazy Stories Of Athletes Who Were Stripped Of Their Olympic Medals

For most athletes who compete in the Olympics, it's a moment that's the culmination of a lifetime of dedication and training. It truly is a pursuit that only a handful are driven to, and to take that world stage means you're fueled by a passion that not too many people have. It's not easy being an Olympian, after all: You're probably not going to get rich, your training might even bankrupt you, and there's a good chance you'll have to sacrifice things like an education and even your right to speak your mind in public. Also, there's a 100% chance you'll have to sacrifice things like cheeseburgers and late-night Taco Bell runs, and that's dedication. 

That makes it a huge deal when winners are stripped of their medals. They've worked years and years to get to that podium, and while the knee-jerk reaction might be to think they've been caught doping, that's not always the case. (Although, spoiler alert — that's often the case.)

In fact, there's a ton of crazy stories of Olympians who have had their medals taken away, and some have had victory snatched from their grasp amid shocking circumstances.

Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan won a gold at the 2000 Olympics for the individual all-around competition, and then it was almost immediately taken away. The reason was doping, but according to The New York Times, it's complicated. The then-16-year-old Raducan tested positive for pseudoephedrine, which — while being on the IOC's official list of banned substances — is probably also in the medicine cabinets of most homes. It's in over-the-counter cold medicine, and that's exactly what she'd taken. Not only had she taken it, but it was her trainer who gave her the meds, to fight off flu symptoms.

She appealed the decision. While the International Court of Arbitration for Sport agreed that she hadn't gained any advantage from taking the medicine, they also argued that anti-doping rules "must be enforced without compromise." Not only did they refuse to return her medal and title, but her doctor, Ioachim Oana, was banned from the remainder of the games, as well as the next two games. Raducan later said, "I am disappointed. It's not for me to judge the decision, but I am convinced and my heart is at peace that I did everything right and competed fairly."

In 2020, a film called "The Golden Girl" followed Raducan's journey for redemption. Having gone on to become a journalist and sports announcer, she says that having all she'd worked for taken away because of a technicality means there's no chance of fairness with the IOC.

It wasn't until 2010 that Chinese gymnast Dong Fangxiao had the bronze medal she'd won in the 2000 Sydney Olympics taken away, and according to The Wall Street Journal, it's entirely possible that it was only because of her own oopsie.

When registering for the 2000 Olympics, they note that she had applied with a birth date of Jan. 20, 1983. That would have made her 17 years old at the time of the competition, a year over the minimum age requirement of 16. But when the 2008 Olympics rolled around, she listed her birth date as Jan. 23, 1986. That meant at the time she competed in 2000, she had only been 14 years old — well under the minimum age requirement. 

Her bronze medal was stripped and given to the U.S., but the evidence suggests that hers isn't the only such story. There were further investigations into the Chinese women's gymnastics teams in 2008, and although those girls were ultimately found to be old enough to compete, U.S.A. Gymnastics made it very clear that they doubted the verdict and condemned the pressure put on pre-teen girls to not only compete, but to lie about their age to do so.

When it comes to iconic years in Olympics history, 1968 is definitely up there. Not only did the world see things like East and West Germany competing as separate nations for the first time, but who could forget that iconic protest by John Carlos and Tommie Smith? SBNation says it was also a year for another first: the first athlete was stripped of his medal for doping. And given that it was the 60s and drug use was, well, pretty wild, man, the disgraced athlete's drug seems pretty tame.

Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall was representing Sweden in the pentathlon and was coming up on the chance to make up for his performance — or lack thereof — in the 1964 Olympics. He galloped to the front of the pack with the riding event, hacked and slashed his way through the fencing, and was suddenly face-to-face with the shooting event.

The night before the event, he drank just two beers in an attempt to relax from the overwhelming pressure. He finished the shooting portion of the event, and when everything wrapped up, the Swedish athletes took bronze. And then, his drug test came back: Not only was he stripped of his medal, but his entire team lost their medals over a few evening beers. In 2018, alcohol was removed from the list of banned substances.

The very first Olympic medal for snowboarding was awarded at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, and then it was promptly removed when gold medalist Ross Rebagliati's drug test came back positive for marijuana. According to The Washington Post, Rebagliati said that he personally hadn't smoked weed since April of the previous year, but when friends had a pre-Olympics, going-away party for him, some of them had been smoking. He was in the room, and that's how it had gotten into his system.

When it came time for the IOC to vote on whether he'd be handed a disqualification or just a slap on the wrist, it was pretty close. At the time, there were no specific limits on marijuana use, and while it wasn't listed as "performance enhancing," it was controversial because it was said to be used to calm nerves. The ban actually didn't last long and was overturned before he even had a chance to give the medal back. (The delay was partially because he ended up in a Japanese jail on suspicion of bringing pot into the country, says The New York Times.) But still, that's not the end of the story. 

Rebagliati later said, "Cannabis ... was seen as being for losers and lazy stoners. ... I became a source of entertainment, a joke." He went on to embrace it though: With Canada's legalization of weed, he has since launched his own "cannabis lifestyle brand," called Legacy.

The Smithsonian calls Jim Thorpe "the greatest American Olympian of all time," but it's not a sentiment that's reflected in any official records. Why? It's a weird story. Thorpe — who was a Sac and Fox Native American who grew up hunting, riding, and working in what was the Oklahoma Territory — famously broke a high school high-jump record when he hopped over a bar set above his own height in work clothes, and when it came to the Olympics, he dominated in both the decathlon and pentathlon. That includes events like the mile run — which, incidentally, he won wearing unmatched shoes and after competing in nine other events in less than 48 hours.

Then, in 1912 — six months after the competition — the IOC stripped Thorpe of his medals. Why? A few years prior, he had spent a season as a minor-league ball player. The Olympics were only for amateurs, and that meant the $25 he'd made (which is about $700 adjusted for inflation), made him ineligible. In spite of rules stating that Olympic medals could only be challenged for 30 days after competition, his medals were revoked.

In spite of a massive movement to see the records change and the medals go back to Thorpe, The New York Times says that things still aren't right. In 1982, the IOC awarded him posthumous gold medals that came with a massive catch: The medals were his, but the official records and results of the Olympics he absolutely owned weren't going to be changed.

Lance Armstrong's story is the stuff of legend. He was only 25 when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and post-treatment he returned to the cycling world to take title after title. It wasn't long, however, before rumors of doping started circulating. According to CNN, Armstrong denied it until 2013, when he came clean during an interview with Oprah. The IOC immediately stripped Armstrong of his bronze medal from the 2000 Sydney Olympics, and it was almost as fast as the International Cycling Union took away his Tour de France honors, too (via the BBC).

It turned out that was just the beginning of the fall, and things only got worse when the United States Anti-Doping Agency released findings (via the CBC) that not only had Armstrong been taking a Molotov cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs, but he'd been "ruthlessly" pressuring his teammates to do the same. The report included the insane lengths he had gone to, including things like turning hotel rooms into blood transfusion centers. A total of 26 people — including 11 of his former teammates — testified, and it led to the unfolding of a scandal that the USADA called "the most sophisticated, personalized, and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."

After Armstrong was stripped of his medal, NPR says it took him eight months to return it.

Rick DeMont, says Swimming World, was just 16 years old when he headed to the 1972 Olympics in Munich, where he soundly won the 400-meter freestyle. But, when he failed a drug test, he wasn't permitted to compete in the event he'd broken a world record in, the 1500-meter (via The New York Times). The U.S. swim coach called the events that unfolded "a gross injustice" in which "DeMont was robbed."

So, what happened? When DeMont went through the standard procedure meeting with officials from the U.S. Olympic Committee, he had to — of course — fill out a ton of paperwork. In it, he specifically included information on his asthma, and what he used to treat it. Those were things like Sudafed and Actifed, and in spite of fully disclosing the information — and having been taking the medication under the supervision of doctors since he was a child — he tested positive for ephedrine, and lost his gold medal.

DeMont had suffered several severe asthma attacks in the day leading up to the race, which explained why the substance had been in his system. He and his coach argued that since the officials had all the information readily available to them, he absolutely shouldn't have the medal removed. DeMont has continued to petition to have his gold reinstated, but according to AP, he's been consistently denied by the IOC, who claims no disclosures were made and the dose was too high to be explained by asthma medication.

Several Olympians have had their medals stripped because of poor sportsmanship, and let's start with Unified Team weightlifter Ibragim Samadov. During the 1992 competition, he had officially tied with the other Polish and Greek athletes. However, since he weighed just a tenth of a pound more than they did, he was deemed to have an advantage and was given the bronze. When it came time for them to head to the podium, Samadov threw his medal on the ground and stormed off.

In spite of a later apology, the medal was stripped and the International Weightlifting Federation explained (via The New York Times): "He did not respect the International Olympic Committee, the spirit of the Games, his colleagues, the anthems, the flags. He did this in front of 4,000 people and a television audience of billions."

Then, in 2008, Ara Abrahamian (pictured, in 2004) tossed his bronze aside after placing third for Sweden. He made it very clear how unhappy he was, saying (via The Guardian): "I don't care about this medal. I wanted gold. ... I consider this Olympics a failure." Abrahamian condemned his placement at third as "totally unjustified," and both he and his coach claimed "politics" had heavily influenced the judges' decision. He announced his retirement from wrestling at the same time, but the IOC still included a ban with the removal of his medal (via Reuters).