5 Controversial Outcomes at the 2024 Olympic Games – What Happened?

From the disqualification of American swimmer Alex Walsh in a race where she had seemingly secured a medal to Noah Lyles’ astonishing photo-finish victory, here are five controversies that rocked the world of sports.

Alex Walsh’s Disqualification – A Shocking Turn of Events

The women’s 200-meter individual medley at the 2024 Paris Olympics had been poised to be a triumph for Team USA. Both Kate Douglass and Alex Walsh had been set to claim podium finishes.

Douglass and Walsh had appeared to secure second and third places, respectively, which would have added two more medals to the U.S. tally. However, the celebration was cut short when officials announced a review of Walsh’s race, particularly focusing on her transition from backstroke to breaststroke.

The scrutiny had centered on Walsh’s turn as she had finished the backstroke leg of the medley and transitioned into the breaststroke. Moments after the race had concluded, it had been determined that Walsh had committed an infraction during this crucial turn.

The officials had ruled that Walsh had not completed the backstroke on her back as required, leading to her disqualification. According to NBC swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines, “She rolls over…she went past vertical, that’s the problem.”

“The head has to come back and cannot go past that 90-degree mark,” he continued. This ruling had been a critical interpretation of swimming regulations, highlighting the stringent enforcement of technical rules in Olympic competitions.

As a result of the disqualification, the race standings had been adjusted. Kate Douglass had been awarded the silver medal with a time of 2:06.92, narrowly missing out on gold to Canada’s Summer McIntosh, who had set an Olympic record with her time of 2:06.56.

Australia’s Kaylee McKeown had moved up to claim the bronze, following Walsh’s disqualification. Walsh’s disqualification had not only altered the medal distribution but also sparked a debate about the intricacies of swimming rules and their enforcement.

“Alex Walsh still showed what an amazing athlete she is. The heartbreak for her must have been unimaginable,” one person commented. Another social media user shared in part, “Poor Alex Walsh, that’s just unfair.” Walsh took to Instagram following the disappointing disqualification, revealing she was “still proud.”

Noah Lyles’ Controversial Gold Medal Win

Noah Lyles faced an uphill battle as he took his first stride on Stade de France’s purple track during the 100-meter Final at the Paris Olympics. With the slowest reaction time to the starting gun, Lyles, of the U.S., found himself trailing early in the race.

At the halfway point, he was still in seventh place in an eight-man field, chasing down Jamaica’s Kishane Thompson, who had set the fastest time of the season and dominated the semifinal round.

In the final steps of the race, Lyles had caught up to Thompson, American Fred Kerley, and South Africa’s Akani Simbine. Lyles then had executed a maneuver he rarely practiced — dipping his shoulders at the finish line. However, he was still uncertain about his victory.

The scoreboard had taken time to process the photo finish, leaving the stadium in suspense. “I think you got that one, big dog,” Lyles told Thompson, to which Thompson replied, “I’m not even sure. It was that close.”

When the results were finally displayed, they revealed that Lyles had earned his first Olympic gold medal with a personal best of 9.79 seconds. This victory kept him on track to achieve his goal of winning four gold medals at the 2024 Olympic Games.

It also positioned him to become the first runner to win the 100 and the 200-meter race at a single Olympics since Usain Bolt’s consecutive victories from 2008 to 2016.

Lyles, the first American to win gold in the Olympic 100-meters since Justin Gatlin in 2004, had edged out Thompson by a mere five-thousandths of a second, with Kerley finishing closely behind in 9.81 seconds.

“I didn’t do this against a slow field. I did this against the best of the best, on the biggest stage with the biggest pressure. And seeing that name, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, there it is,'” Lyles said.

The race had been so close that Kerley remarked, “Whoever dipped at the line, they won that race.” The competition had been so fierce that Kenny Bednarek of the U.S., who had finished seventh with a time of 9.88 seconds, would have medaled in both the 2016 and 2020 Olympics.

Lyles’ triumph came just a year after he earned a world championship in the 100-meter race, part of his three gold medals at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. However, he acknowledged that Olympic victories held a special significance.

In a moment of cathartic celebration, Lyles had ripped off his paper bib bearing his last name, thrusting it toward the crowd before appearing to wipe away tears and wrapping an American flag around his shoulders.

The dramatic finish and the initial confusion over the results had ignited a firestorm on social media. Many had believed that Thompson had crossed the finish line first. Former professional football player turned sports analyst Emmanuel Acho took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to clarify the controversy.

“For those confused as to why Noah Lyles was awarded Gold instead of Thompson, even though Thompson’s foot crossed 1st: The clock stops when your torso crosses the line not 1st body part. Noah leans w/ his chest, while Thompson subtly concaves his chest. That was the difference,” he shared.

Jordan Chiles’ Bronze Medal Saga

On August 6, 2024, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu publicly expressed his discontent with the handling of gymnast Sabrina Voinea-Maneca’s floor exercise score at the Paris Olympics.

The Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee appealed the score after a controversial inquiry from Team USA coaches during the women’s gymnastics floor final had knocked the Romanian gymnast out of medal contention.

This appeal was sent to both the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), according to a spokeswoman for the Romanian Olympic Committee.

The controversy unfolded after the competition in the women’s final. Initially, it appeared that U.S. gymnast Jordan Chiles would not medal, sitting in fifth place with a score of 13.666.

Fans expected Simone Biles, who secured a silver medal, to be the only American on the podium. However, Team USA submitted an inquiry regarding Chiles’ difficulty score.

After a review by the judges, Chiles’ score was adjusted to 13.766, allowing her to claim the bronze medal. This adjustment pushed Maneca-Voinea and her teammate Ana Barbosu, both of whom scored 13.700, out of medal contention.

The inquiry centered on Chiles’ Tour Jeté Full, an element of her routine that Team USA argued was improperly scored. They contended that Chiles did not receive credit for this move in both the qualifications and the team final.

The judges agreed with Team USA’s assessment, resulting in the score revision that awarded Chiles the bronze medal. In response to this decision, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced in an open letter posted on Facebook that he would boycott the Paris Olympics Closing Ceremony in protest.

Ciolacu expressed his profound disappointment and frustration over the situation, describing it as scandalous and dishonorable. Ciolacu’s open letter highlighted his decision to skip the closing ceremony due to the unjust treatment of Romanian athletes.

He condemned the withdrawal of a medal that had been earned through honest effort, based on an appeal that neither coaches nor top technicians could understand. Such actions, he asserted, were unacceptable in a competition that promotes values like respect, understanding, and excellence.

Ciolacu extended his support to Sabrina Voinea Maneca and Ana Barbosu, assuring them that the entire nation stood with them, valuing their hard work and dedication over any physical medal. He emphasized that the Romanian state would recognize and reward them as Olympic medalists, reflecting the nation’s pride in their achievements.

Chinese Swimmers’ Scandal Ahead of The 2024 Olympics

In a scandal that resurfaced just as the 2024 Paris Olympics approached, two elite Chinese swimmers, one of whom had been named to her country’s Olympic team, had been implicated in a controversy dating back to 2022.

After a thorough investigation into the incident, it was revealed that the swimmers had tested positive for a banned drug in 2022. However, they had been secretly cleared of doping charges by Chinese authorities in late 2023, according to sources with direct knowledge of the matter.

Chinese authorities could not definitively determine how the swimmers had ingested the powerful anabolic steroid. They had concluded that the athletes most likely had consumed the drug unknowingly.

The implicated swimmers, Tang Muhan and He Junyi, had been training at a national team facility in Beijing in 2022. According to the Chinese authorities’ report to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the two athletes had gone out together in early October, stopping at a restaurant for Coke, hamburgers, and fries.

Days later, they had undergone routine drug testing, which had returned positive results the following month. In their explanation to global antidoping regulators, Chinese officials emphasized that only trace amounts of the steroid were detected, levels consistent with contamination rather than intentional doping.

This explanation marked at least the third instance in recent years where China had attributed positive tests by top swimmers to contaminated food. However, this defense was met with skepticism from many anti-doping experts.

Critics argued that this incident reflected a broader pattern of China overlooking positive tests in its swimming program and had pointed to a failure by global anti-doping agencies to ensure fair competition for elite athletes.

Muhan was a member of a freestyle relay team that won gold and set a world record at the previous Summer Olympics, narrowly defeating the U.S. and Australia.

State media also named Muhan as a member of the 2024 Olympic team, potentially participating in the Chinese 4×200-meter relay team that aimed to secure a second consecutive gold medal in the event. Junyi, although not a member of the 2024 Olympic team, drew attention for another reason.

He was among the 23 swimmers who had tested positive in 2021 for trimetazidine (TMZ), a prescription heart medication known to enhance stamina, and endurance, and speed up recovery times. Following the positive tests in 2022, Chinese authorities initially issued provisional suspensions for Muhan and Junyi, as required by the WADA code.

Vinesh Phogat’s Shocking Disqualification in Women’s Wrestling

In a heartbreaking turn of events, female wrestler Vinesh Phogat was disqualified from the Paris 2024 Olympics wrestling competition. At the Paris 2024 Games, each weight category had been organized over two competition days.

The medical control and initial weigh-in for each category took place on the morning of the first competition day. On the second competition day, wrestlers who had qualified for the finals and repechage were weighed in again.

“It is with regret that the Indian contingent shares news of the disqualification of Vinesh Phogat from the women’s wrestling 50kg class. Despite the best efforts by the team through the night, she weighed in a few grams over 50kg this morning,” the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) said in a statement.

According to wrestling rules, if a wrestler fails the weigh-in on either day of the competition — preliminaries, repechage, and final rounds — they are eliminated from the event.

This disqualification was particularly devastating given Phogat’s impressive performance leading up to the finals. The three-time Commonwealth Games champion, who had been unseeded, won three bouts to qualify for the final.

In a stunning upset, she defeated the top seed and defending Olympic champion Yui Susaki of Japan in the opening round. In the quarter-finals, Phogat had overcome former European champion Oksana Livach of Ukraine, followed by a victory over reigning Pan American Games champion Yusneylis Guzman of Cuba in the semifinals.

“Why wasn’t Vinesh Phogat advised to shave her head fully ??? Or are there restrictions on that? 100 grams should not be that hard. What the f has happened?” one person shared on X.

“Such a sad ending to Vinesh Phogat’s run at the Olympics. She deserved all the success. I still don’t get why she doesn’t get SILVER at least? Wasn’t she weighed before the start of the competition as well?” another X user typed.

A third person shared the same frustration, commenting, “Is the Olympics a joke now? Disqualifying Vinesh Phogat over just 100 grams is utterly ridiculous! This kind of harsh penalty for such a minor issue is unjust and disproportionate. Athletes train their whole lives for this! We stand with you, Vinesh! #Unfair #JusticeForVinesh.”

The 2024 Paris Olympic Games were marked by a series of controversial outcomes that sparked widespread debate and scrutiny. These incidents collectively emphasize the ongoing challenges in ensuring fairness and transparency in the world’s premier sporting event.