History OvershadowedByControversy / Sports

* Creator/OJSimpson's achievements as a football player and actor have been overshadowed by the controversy over his involvement, and possible guilt, in the murder of his second ex-wife, Nicole Brown, and her friend, Ron Goldman. Most people today know him solely for the murder trial or for subsequently getting arrested for stealing what he alleges was property stolen from him.

* UsefulNotes/TonyaHarding, a promising figure skater able to pull extremely difficult tricks that few were able to back then, like the triple axel jump, apparently ordered an attack on fellow figure skater Nancy Kerrigan with a telescoping baton so she could defeat her rival that way.[[note]]She has always maintained it was not her idea, but her abusive and obsessive ex-husband's.[[/note]] The case came out afterward and she was found guilty of racketeering, stripped of all her titles, and banned from figure skating for life. Since then, she only gets in the news media for the kind of behavior you wouldn't want to become famous for; it doesn't help that, whether innocent or not, she has [[{{Jerkass}} some serious character flaws]] that make it difficult for her to endear herself to the public. Harding continues to have some fans though, especially among people who believe her to be the victim of a smear campaign, or for TakingTheHeat for something ''her husband'' ordered ''someone else'' to do. The biopic ''Film/ITonya'' even states once it gets to the period "now this is what you all paid for..."

* "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, one of the controversial eight "Black Sox" involved with a Chicago White Sox's 1919 World Series scandal, was the only one of the eight banned figures to be considered worthy of deserving entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

* The 1896 heavyweight championship boxing match of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzsimmons_vs._Sharkey Bob Fitzsimmons vs. Tom Sharkey]] is best known for having been fixed, as well as accusations that referee Wyatt Earp (yes, ''that'' Wyatt Earp) was involved with the fix. Earp's calling of the match was so criticized at the time that it followed him for years afterwards, to the point it was reported that when he died in 1929, he was perhaps more well-known for his decision in the title fight than his actions at the O.K. Corral gunfight (for which he would become better-known after his death).

* Aljona Savchenko, the 2018 Olympic Champion and one of the most decorated pair skaters of her generation, came under fire in June 2021 after she announced that she planned to un-retire and return to competition, this time representing the United States instead of Germany. This alone is not bad. What made it controversial was her decision to partner up with pair skater TJ Nyman, who has never competed on a senior level[[note]]his career highlight is a 5th place finish at the 2018 Junior World Championships with former partner Sarah Feng[[/note]], and who is currently facing multiple allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct, and coercion and rape against minors. Furthermore, Savchenko and Nyman were planning on training with Dalilah Sappenfield, Nyman's coach and an equally controversial figure who has been accused of enabling a culture of sexual abuse among her students. Savchenko has faced considerable backlash for her decision, which only worsened when footage of her kissing Nyman[[note]]it's important to note that Savchenko is a ''married woman''[[/note]] circulated the Internet. While Savchenko would eventually split up with Nyman and return to coaching, this incident has tarnished her reputation considerably.

*** Hours before Music/RKelly was scheduled to perform during the opening ceremonies; the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that a sex tape existed that alleged to have shown Kelly having sex with, and also [[{{Squick}} urinating on]] an underage girl. Surprisingly; Kelly was permitted to perform after denying that was him, though he would be indicted that June on 21 counts of child pornography (later reduced to 14); of which he was eventually acquitted in 2008.[[note]]Kelly would eventually be convicted on 9 counts - including 8 counts of violating the Mann Act relating to taking minors across state lines for sexual purposes - in a separate trial in 2021, and was given a 30 year sentence in June 2022. He was later convicted of three counts of producing child pornography in Illinois - though being acquitted on charges of fixing the 2008 state trial - and still faces further charges in California. As of May 2023; Kelly is appealing the convictions[[/note]]

* The Kansas City Royals won their first World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals in 1985, but that series is better remembered for one of the worst officiating calls in baseball history. In the bottom of the ninth of Game 6, umpire Don Denkinger ruled Jorge Orta safe at first when the throw clearly beat him there[[note]]in the fourth inning of the same game, Royals player Frank White had been called out at second in a questionable call (replays showed he actually beat the tag); since he likely would have scored on Sheridan's single two pitches later had the call been made correctly, it could be argued that the two bad calls effectively cancelled each other out[[/note]]. The Cardinals imploded, losing that game and getting routed in Game 7. Not helping matters is Denkinger ejecting Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog and pitcher Joaquín Andújar in the clincher which led to fans sending him death threats.

* French soccer champion Zinedine Zidane is world famous for one incident during his final game, where he [[UseYourHead headbutted Italian player Marco Materazzi]] after the latter insulted him. Zidane's disqualification as a result of the headbutt is widely believed to have been what cost France its victory in the 2006 World Cup game with Italy.

* Despite Michael Schumacher being the driver with most victories and titles in [[UsefulNotes/FormulaOne F1]], he is still more remembered for his controversial actions in some races, especially in the finale of the 1997 season when he tried to wreck Jacques Villeneuve for winning the championship. [[LaserGuidedKarma He failed, ended in the gravel trap and after the race, he was excluded from the championship]].

*** Hours before Music/RKelly was scheduled to perform during the opening ceremonies; the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that a sex tape existed that alleged to have shown Kelly having sex with, and also [[{{Squick}} urinating on]] an underage girl. Surprisingly; Kelly was permitted to perform after denying that was him, though he would be indicted that June on 21 counts of child pornography (later reduced to 14); of which he was eventually acquitted in 2008.[[note]]Kelly would eventually be convicted on 9 counts - including 8 counts of violating the Mann Act relating to taking minors across state lines for sexual purposes - in a separate trial in 2021, and was given a 30 year sentence in June 2022. He's currently awaiting trial on more felonies in Illinois, and whenever ''that'' is wrapped up he'll face further charges in California.[[/note]]

* Ty Cobb. While he is one of the greatest baseball players of all time, his reputation suffers from allegations of racism and violence, largely stemming from a couple of biographies that were released following his death, even though said biographies were later largely discredited.[[note]]Cobb's reputation as an extremely violent man was fanned by his first biographer, sportswriter Al Stump, whose stories about Cobb have been discredited as sensationalized, and in some part proven to be entirely fictional. While it is held that Cobb did have racist views early on his life, this would have been extremely unremarkable for a white man born in rural Georgia in the 1880s. More to the point, his views on race evolved and mellowed after his retirement from baseball; he became a proponent of the integration of the sport well before Jackie Robinson actually broke the color line in 1947 (which ''is'' remarkable for a white man, especially a white ballplayer, born in rural Georgia in the 1880s).[[/note]]

* Ty Cobb. While he is one of the greatest baseball players of all time, his reputation suffers from allegations of racism and violence, largely stemming from a couple of biographies that were released following his death, even though said biographies were later largely discredited.[[note]]Cobb's reputation as an extremely violent man was fanned by his first biographer, sportswriter Al Stump, whose stories about Cobb have been discredited as sensationalized, and in some part proven to be entirely fictional. While it is held that Cobb did have racist views early on his life, his views on race evolved and mellowed after his retirement from baseball, with Cobb being a proponent of the sport becoming integrated.[[/note]]

* Adelina Sotnikova is a well-accomplished figure skater, being a two-time European silver medalist, a two-time Rostelecom Cup bronze medalist, and a four-time Russian national champion, as well as the 2014 Olympic champion in ladies' figure skating. However, the circumstances of her 2014 Olympic champion title have overshadowed her other achievements, due to Sotnikova receiving what many consider to be an inflated score for her long program, one with noticeable flaws, as well as the fact that she had defeated South Korea's Yuna Kim, the 2010 Olympic champion who was the favorite for gold medal but had to settle for silver. Many people, including veteran skaters, were shocked at this outcome, many commentators for various networks were outraged and confused at the judges' decision [[note]]Hilariously, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIJUSAyRUgU two Italian commentators]] were so furious on Yuna Kim's behalf that they momentarily ''forgot'' about Carolina Kostner, ''their own countryman'', winning the bronze medal[[/note]], and Yuna Kim's fans were ''especially'' outraged, to the point where 'Yuna Kim was Robbed' became a trend on social media. Not helping the controversy was the judges' panel consisting of two Russian officials, a Russian judge [[note]]who happened to be Alla Shekhovtsova, the wife of the then-president of the Figure Skating Federation of Russia[[/note]], and a Ukrainian judge [[note]]who was suspended for a year after the 1998 Winter Olympics, where he was caught trying to fix the ice dancing event on tape[[/note]], and footage of one of the judges hugging Sotnikova outside the arena only added fuel to the fire, as it further raised suspicions of bias towards Russian athletes among the judges. Ironically, it's been speculated that this victory completely ''ruined'' Sotnikova's career in figure skating, as she wound up withdrawing from the 2014-15 competitive season, and didn't take part in any competitions from 2016 onward before officially announcing her retirement from figure skating in March 2020. Today, Sotnikova is internationally known as the one who robbed Yuna Kim of a second gold medal in the 2014 Olympics, and it's highly unlikely she will be able to fully shake off that reputation outside her native Russia.

* Kamila Valieva first rose to international fame when she became the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in Olympic competition and helped the Russian Olympic Committee team win the gold in the figure skating team event, and prior to that, she'd even set nine world records in her figure skating career. However, that was quickly overshadowed when Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance, on the day after the team event. The controversy only worsened when Valieva was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and by the World Anti-Doping Agency to compete in the women's individual skating event, due to her being a minor and thus classified as a "protected person" under WADA guidelines, which drew condemnation from multiple skaters and even the IOC. While she would end up finishing fourth in the overall event, there's little doubt that these doping allegations have tarnished Valieva's skating career in the West. That said, few people seem to blame Valieva herself for this, with most if not all of the disgust aimed toward the coaches who engaged in what is essentially child abuse.
* Eteri Tutberidze is a prominent Russian skating coach who specializes in the women's discipline, and who has coached several female skaters to international success, including three Olympic champions[[note]]Yulia Lipnitskaya in the 2014 team event, Alina Zagitova in the 2018 women's event, and Anna Shcherbakova in the 2022 women's event[[/note]], two Olympic silver medallists[[note]]Evgenia Medvedeva in 2018 and Alexandra Trusova in 2022[[/note]], and the aforementioned Kamila Valieva. Nevertheless, she's also well-known for her abusive coaching methods such as encouraging dehydration and starvation in her students, and many of her skaters have retired before the age of 18 after suffering serious injuries. Then, in February 2022, Tutberidze faced a new level of controversy during Valieva's doping scandal at the 2022 Winter Olympics, with several skaters and coaches criticizing not only her abusive methods, but also the judges' bias towards her skaters, particularly after Valieva was cleared to compete in the women's individual event despite her positive drug test.[[note]]This is especially egregious considering that non-Russian skaters have received harsher penalties for minor infractions.[[/note]] While Tutberidze is still a coach in Russia, there's little doubt that this controversy and her abusive training methods are what she will be remembered for.

* 14-time All-Star and two-time MVP Karl Malone has, since long after retiring from the sport, become more disliked and discussed outside of Utah due to his very shady actions off the court, such as impregnating a 13-year old girl before joining the NBA (with the child in question eventually becoming an NFL player named Demetrius Bell) and even hitting on Kobe Bryant’s wife during Malone's only season with the Lakers.

* 14-time All-Star and two-time MVP Karl Malone has since long after retiring from the sport become more disliked and discussed outside of Utah due to his very shady actions off the court, such as impregnating a 13-year old girl before joining the NBA (with the child in question eventually becoming an NFL player named Demetrius Bell) and even hitting on Kobe Bryant’s wife during Malone's only season with the Lakers.

* The Washington Commanders were best known by non-sports fans because of their former name for many decades, the Washington Redskins, seen by many as a racial slur used against Native Americans (with their logo in particular being considered a caricature of one). There were many campaigns to persuade the team to change it. None of these succeeded until July 2020, when various major outlets (including Nike and Amazon) refused to sell any more Redskins merchandise and [=FedEx=] threatened to remove its name from the team's stadium unless the name was changed, resulting in the team's much more generic name of Washington Football Team for the 2020 and 2021 seasons before being rebranded as the Commanders from 2022 onwards.

* Former baseball pitcher turned sports commentator Curt Schilling is known nowadays for his far-right political views, including some Islamophobic comments that got him fired from Fox Sports, and mocking a transgender coworker, which got him fired from ESPN. He has since become a political propagandist for the alt-right and a contributor to Breitbart, further disassociating him from sports. Because of this, it has seriously hurt his chances of making the Hall of Fame, despite being considered one of the best pitchers in baseball and winning multiple World Series championships between the Arizona Diamondbacks (including a Co-MVP award with fellow pitcher Randy Johnson) and the Boston Red Sox (with his first championship there being notable for ending the Red Sox's curse at the time and being a part of a 3-0 series comeback to a 4-3 win while pitching with one of his socks being bloodied from a foot injury).

* Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver took on a similar role to that of Donald Sterling when on September 13, 2022, a nearly year-long investigation on Sarver specifically revealed nearly two decades' worth of racist, sexist, and other harsh treatments in relation to employees of his, despite him being publicly against SB 1070 (a law in Arizona that was very strict with anti-immigration rules in place to the point of racial profiling in mind) in 2010. Despite the severity of his actions, Sarver was met with a year-long ban that included him going to behavioral meetings and paying a fine of $10 million to the NBA that would be donated to charities looking to end toxic behaviors that Sarver had. However, after much condemnation later coming from the initial ruling, Sarver himself looked to sell the team to someone else instead eight days after the initial ruling commenced, which was eventually successfully sold to former Michigan State University champion player and current CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage Mathew Ishbia and his older brother Justin Ishbia on December 20, 2022, which later was made official on February 7, 2023.

* 14-time All-Star and two-time MVP Karl Malone has since long after retiring from the sport become more disliked and discussed outside of Utah due to his very shady actions off the court, such as impregnating a 13-year old girl before joining the NBA (with the child in question becoming an NFL player named Demetrius Bell) and even hitting on Kobe Bryant’s wife during Malone's only season with the Lakers.

* Bob Knight was one of college basketball's most successful and innovative coaches. However, most people know him for [[HairTriggerTemper his volatile temper and violent behavior]], especially infamous episodes like him throwing a chair across the court during a game, being recorded on video grabbing one of his players by the neck, and getting arrested in UsefulNotes/PuertoRico for assaulting a cop. These incidents and others eventually led to him being fired by Indiana University.

* 14-time All-Star and two-time MVP Karl Malone has since long after retiring from the sport become more disliked and discussed outside of Utah due to his very shady actions off the court, such as impregnating a 13-year old girl before joining the NBA and even hitting on Kobe Bryant’s wife at one point.

* 14-time All Star and two-time MVP Karl Malone has since become more discussed due to his very shady actions off the court, such as impregnating a 13-year old girl and hitting on Kobe Bryant’s wife.

* Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka went from a long-time respected assistant coach (including an NBA Finals winner in 2014 with the San Antonio Spurs) and first-time head coach that led the Boston Celtics to their first NBA Finals appearance since 2010 to someone that's considered a horny hound dog of an individual due to his relationship interests with multiple female staff members within the Celtics. While it was known that Udoka was in an open relationship with actress Nia Long, his unwanted actions with said female staff members led to the Celtics specifically suspending Udoka from his head coach position for the entire 2022-23 season on September 22, though Udoka did not plan to resign from his position in the process. The Brooklyn Nets initially considered getting Udoka back into their coaching staff as the new head coach, replacing Steve Nash's position there, but ultimately reconsidered and allowed for former assistant coach and interim coach Jacque Vaughn to permanently take over for the rest of the season.

* Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver took on a similar role to that of Donald Sterling when on September 13, 2022, a nearly year-long investigation on Sarver specifically revealed nearly two decades' worth of racist, sexist, and other harsh treatments in relation to employees of his, despite him being publicly against SB 1070 (a law in Arizona that was very strict with anti-immigration rules in place to the point of racial profiling in mind) in 2010. Despite the severity of his actions, Sarver was met with a year-long ban that included him going to behavioral meetings and paying a fine of $10 million to the NBA that would be donated to charities looking to end toxic behaviors that Sarver had. However, after much condemnation later for the initial ruling, Sarver himself looked to sell the team to someone else instead eight days after the initial ruling commenced, which looks to have been successfully sold to former Michigan State University champion player and current CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage Mathew Ishbia and his older brother Justin Ishbia on December 20, 2022, which later was made official on February 8, 2023.

* Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver took on a similar role to that of Donald Sterling when on September 13, 2022, a nearly year-long investigation on Sarver specifically revealed nearly two decades' worth of racist, sexist, and other harsh treatments in relation to employees of his, despite him being publicly against SB 1070 (a law in Arizona that was very strict with anti-immigration rules in place to the point of racial profiling in mind) in 2010. Despite the severity of his actions, Sarver was met with a year-long ban that included him going to behavioral meetings and paying a fine of $10 million to the NBA that would be donated to charities looking to end toxic behaviors that Sarver had. However, after much condemnation later for the initial ruling, Sarver himself looked to sell the team to someone else instead eight days after the initial ruling commenced, which looks to have been successfully sold to former Michigan State University champion player and current CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage Mathew Ishbia and his older brother Justin Ishbia on December 20, 2022.

* Kamila Valieva first rose to international fame when she became the first female skater to land a quadruple jump in Olympic competition and helped the Russian Olympic Committee team win the gold in the figure skating team event, and prior to that, she'd even set nine world records in her figure skating career. However, that was quickly overshadowed when Valieva tested positive for trimetazidine, a banned substance, on the day after the team event. The controversy only worsened when Valieva was cleared by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and by the World Anti-Doping Agency to compete in the women's individual skating event, due to her being a minor and thus classified as a "protected person" under WADA guidelines, which drew condemnation from multiple skaters and even the IOC. While she would end up finishing fourth in the overall event, there's little doubt that these doping allegations have tarnished Valieva's skating career in the West.
* Eteri Tutberidze is a prominent Russian skating coach who specializes in the women's discipline, and who has coached several female skaters to international success, including three Olympic champions[[note]]Yulia Lipnitskaya in the 2014 team event, Alina Zagitova in the 2018 women's event, and Anna Shcherbakova in the 2022 women's event[[/note]], two Olympic silver medallists[[note]]Evgenia Medvedeva in 2018 and Alexandra Trusova in 2022[[/note]], and the aforementioned Kamila Valieva. Nevertheless, she's also well-known for her abusive coaching methods such as encouraging dehydration and starvation in her students, and many of her skaters have retired before the age of 18 after suffering serious injuries. Then, in February 2022, Tutberidze faced a new level of controversy during Valieva's doping scandal at the 2022 Winter Olympics, with several skaters and coaches criticizing not only her abusive methods, but also the judges' bias towards her skaters, particularly after Valieva was cleared to compete in the women's individual event despite her positive drug test[[note]]This is especially egregious considering that non-Russian skaters have received harsher penalties for minor infractions[[/note]]. While Tutberidze is still a coach in Russia, there's little doubt that this controversy and her abusive training methods are what she will be remembered for.

** Tebow's managed to be this in a second sport. After his pro football career ended, Tebow decided he'd like to try his hand at professional baseball (despite the fact that by this point the 28-year-old Tebow was several years older than most minor leaguers and hadn't played in a competitive baseball game since his junior year of high school). The New York Mets signed him to a minor league contract in 2016. His substandard performance (his career batting average over three years is a miserable .223) and rapid movement up the Mets' minor league ladder despite no signs of improvement has led to accusations both from fans and players that Tebow is a sideshow who is just there to sell tickets and move merchandise while taking up a roster spot that could have been used on a ''legitimate'' prospect.[[note]]To be fair he ''did'' sell a lot of merchandise and tickets during a time that minor league baseball was struggling so badly that ''Major'' League Baseball had to step in and take over in 2021 (was supposed to be 2020, [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic but...]])[[/note]]

* Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver took on a similar role to that of Donald Sterling when on September 13, 2022, a nearly year-long investigation on Sarver specifically revealed nearly two decades' worth of racist, sexist, and other harsh treatments in relation to employees of his, despite him being publicly against SB 1070 (a law in Arizona that was very strict with anti-immigration rules in place to the point of racial profiling in mind) in 2010. Despite the severity of his actions, Sarver was met with a year-long ban that included him going to behavioral meetings and paying a fine of $10 million to the NBA that would be donated to charities looking to end toxic behaviors that Sarver had. However, after much condemnation later for the initial ruling, Sarver himself looked to sell the team to someone else instead eight days after the initial ruling commenced.