History TroubledProduction / Sports

** The men's marathon event, as covered in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4AhABManTw this video]] by Creator/JonBois, was a poorly organized and officiated affair. Olympic organizer James E. Sullivan purposely provided only one official source of water 11 miles into the 25-mile route to test his theories of [[MadScientist how far purposeful dehydration could be taken]]. Combined with the hot temperatures (90°F/32°C) and unpaved roads, three athletes nearly lost their lives during the marathon; William Garcia was found lying on the road with his stomach shredded by breathing in clouds of dust from passing cars, Andarín Carvajal stopped to eat apples along the route and found out the hard way that they were rotten [[note]](despite taking a nap to sleep off the sickness, he still managed to finish in fourth place)[[/note]], and Thomas Hicks [[note]](who was declared winner after Fred Lorz was disqualified for taking a car for over half the route)[[/note]], was given '''[[WorstAid rat poison and brandy]]''' in place of water by his trainers following him. Hicks had to be carried across the finish line by his team, and likely would have died there if not for doctors giving him prompt medical attention.

* The [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19 pandemic]] has caused many sporting events to be postponed, cancelled, held without spectators, or moved to another country altogether, including tournaments, Olympic qualifying events, and races. This has even put a big question mark on the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo due to Japan's proximity to China, where the disease originated, and how contagious the coronavirus is (as of 24 March 2020 the IOC and Prime Minister Abe have agreed to postpone the games to 2021, with the caveat that if it isn't hosted then [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/marleycoyne/2020/04/28/next-years-olympics-will-be-scrapped-if-pandemic-persists-through-2021/#7f65ed1036bd it will be canceled entirely]]; as it happens, the 2020 Olympics did go on, albeit one year late).

*** The NBA would end up hosting their playoffs at Walt Disney World, and the NHL opted for two bubbles in Edmonton and Toronto for theirs (with UsefulNotes/TheStanleyCup Final being hosted in Edmonton). The WNBA played an abbreviated season, including playoffs, in a bubble in Bradenton, Florida (not far from the Tampa Bay area). MLB and the main European football leagues chose not to use a bubble for a truncated regular season, and the former has consequently had to deal with multiple instances of postponed games due to positive tests; MLB did decide on a bubble for their playoffs, based in four sites in Texas and California. The UsefulNotes/UEFAChampionsLeague did use a bubble format for their knockout stages, with all teams being moved to Lisbon after the Round of 16. UEFA did the same for its Europa League and Women's Champions League, with the Europa League being moved to several venues in Germany in the middle of the round of 16 and the WCL being moved to the Spanish Basque Country after its round of 16. The NCAA held its 2021 men's and women's D-I basketball tournaments in semi-bubble conditions, with the men's tournament entirely in Indiana[[labelnote:*]](four venues in UsefulNotes/{{Indianapolis}}, plus Bloomington and West Lafayette)[[/labelnote]] and the women's tournament almost entirely in San Antonio[[labelnote:*]](plus Austin and San Marcos)[[/labelnote]].

** The revival of the United States Grand Prix was briefly endangered by a contract dispute between Bernie Ecclestone and the backers of Circuit of the Americas, a purpose-built road course in Austin, Texas, which nearly led to the abandonment of the track. However, the parties were able to come to terms, and the race ultimately went off on schedule at the end of the 2012 season. The same can't be said of [=F1=]'s planned US street race, the Grand Prix of America in New Jersey, which slipped into DevelopmentHell amidst vicious contract disputes after missing the schedule for ''three straight years'' due to lack of funds for construction.[[note]]With Ecclestone no longer in the picture after the sale of F1 to Liberty Media and the concept being taken to Miami instead (the Miami Grand Prix, first held in May 2022, runs on a street course near Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL's Miami Dolphins), and now with a ''third'' American race in Las Vegas, the NYC Formula 1 race is all but dead.[[/note]]

* UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} had its own example with the 2011 Quaker State 400, the first Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway, located about 40 miles (65 km) from downtown Cincinnati. Not so much the race itself, mind you - the cluster primarily came with the logistical planning, or lack thereof.

** Fortunately, Speedway Motorsports quickly learned its lesson. First, it gave holders of unscanned tickets from this race a very generous ticket exchange offer for future races at the track (or at other company-owned tracks). It also bought a farm next to the track property to further expand the parking, and worked closely with Kentucky authorities to improve access to the track.[[note]]Sadly it didn't help the track's long term future, as it (along with Chicagoland Speedway in Illinois) was removed from the schedules of all 3 of NASCAR's major series following the 2020 season, though not due to any logistical issues. NASCAR reorganized their schedule to coincide with the planned 2021 debut of the 7th generation "Next Gen" cars (which didn't actually debut until 2022 thanks to development time being lost to the COVID-19 pandemic), adding more road courses and shorter tracks and reducing the amount of races held at 1.5 mile "cookie cutter" ovals. Kentucky was the first of those tracks to get the axe simply due to having a reputation among both fans and people within NASCAR as a track that produced boring races.[[/note]]

** With most of NASCAR's top-tier drivers boycotting the Talladega 500, France, desperate to fill seats, offered NASCAR fans free tickets to next year's Daytona 500 if they came to see this race. To fill the pack (only three drivers - Brickhouse, Bobby Isaac, and Jim Vandiver - hadn't joined the boycott), he allowed in drivers from from a completely different series, racing slower vehicles than the stock cars used in NASCAR.

* The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia has seen its budget cut a few times, but the only uproar regards [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2018_FIFA_World_Cup_controversies how controversial the Russian government is]]. Granted, the games went pretty smoothly. The following World Cup however....

** The culture clash between Qatar and the Western World became one of the most hotly contested points. Despite welcoming people all around the world, the Islamic culture of Qatar disavowed LGBT, feminist, or Jewish fans from openly expressing or supporting their beliefs. This resulted in many fans getting kicked out or even detained for expressing their beliefs, which included support for LGBT rights, feminist movements (Iranian movements became the most notable), and Jewish prayers. Things also didn't help when Qatar banned alcohol from being sold, resulting in a lot of irate fans.

** Furthermore, the Games were originally scheduled to be held in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}, but a combination of campaigning by President UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt and the fact that Chicago was woefully unprepared to host the Games forced the IOC to move the event to St. Louis, which ''was'' prepared... to host the World's Fair that same Summer. The organizers of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition were strongly opposed to having to compete with the Olympics, to the point of threatening to create their own athletic competition.

** The Summer Games left Montreal so badly in debt that the financing for the Olympic Stadium wasn't paid off in full until 30 years later, and the province of Quebec insisted that the city pay off its own debts. The financial situation was so bad all around that the future of the Olympic Games was in serious doubt.

** And of course, as was the case with every Olympiad in TheEighties, Cold War politics became an issue. The IOC fought hard to avoid a repeat of the boycotts of 1980 and 1984 - difficult given that, as mentioned, South Korea at the time was a dictatorship with a pretty bad human rights record. Furthermore, there was the issue of UsefulNotes/NorthKorea. They came up with their own plan for the Games, which was eagerly supported by UsefulNotes/FidelCastro; it called for a joint organizing committee, two separate opening and closing ceremonies in Pyongyang and Seoul, and for the events to be roughly evenly divided between North and South Korea. When the plan was rejected, North Korea and Cuba attempted to lead another boycott of the Games, but this time only Nicaragua, Ethiopia, Albania, the Seychelles, and Madagascar followed them.

* [[UsefulNotes/{{Utah}} Salt Lake City]], 2002. The events were marred from the start by a scandal that broke in 1998, in which representatives for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee were accused of bribing the International Olympic Committee to award them the Games, including paying for the private schooling of one IOC member's child. While all parties were acquitted, this wasn't the only problem facing the SLOC, which was short some $379 million and needed to desperately make up the difference in order to have the money to build the required facilities. Venture capitalist UsefulNotes/MittRomney - the future governor of Massachusetts, Presidential candidate in 2012, and now Senator from Utah - made his name here by turning the Games around in record time after being brought in to head the SLOC; aside from a judging controversy, no events marred the Games themselves.

* UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}}, 2010. UsefulNotes/{{Georgia|Europe}}n luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed during a training run, raising concerns over the safety of the luge course. [[note]]As a preventive measure, the walls at the exit of the curve where Nodar was killed were raised, and the ice profile was adjusted. The start of the men's luge was moved down track to the women's starting point, to reduce speed, while the start of the women's luge was also moved farther down the track accordingly.[[/note]] Also, since an El Niño event was going on, the Games often found themselves chronically short of snow due to the abnormally warm weather; snow had to be trucked in from higher in the mountains.

** The Games themselves were an overall success and actually turned a small profit, but the run-up was marred by scandal as the IOC was given free rein to turn the city into their personal fiefdom: Special traffic lanes for Olympic athletes, [[http://gawker.com/5913175/behold-the-london-olympics-creepy-brand-exclusion-zone ridiculously aggressive trademark enforcement]], and the apparent suspension of local anti-competitive behavior laws did ''not'' endear the Olympics to many sectors of the press, the zenith - or nadir - of the absurdity coming when UsefulNotes/McDonalds were given an exclusive monopoly license to sell ''chips'' anywhere within Olympic venues. It was also about this time that serious public attention was focused on the steadily-escalating cost of the Games and the questionable long-term benefits.
** These games also suffered a scandal when the company contracted to provide security, [=G4=], ended up having far too little staff to necessary for such an event. As a result, the army had to be drafted in at short notice.

** The Games began just as Russia became embroiled in controversy over a harsh new anti-LGBT law purporting to crack down on promoting "non-traditional sexual relationships" to minors. While no countries outright boycotted the Games, there was passive-aggressive opposition from many quarters - the German Olympic team wore rainbow-colored uniforms, the US sent a delegation of three openly-gay athletes (in place of UsefulNotes/BarackObama, who declined to attend; although the Winter Olympics' opening ceremony is not considered a "must-visit" for most major politicians), and Website/{{Google}} put up an Olympic-themed Doodle that doubled as a statement of support for LGBT rights. On top of this, there were also protests by Circassian nationalists demanding a state apology from the Russian government over the ethnic cleansing of Circassians that had gone on in the region 150 years prior.

* UsefulNotes/RioDeJaneiro, 2016. While some of the infrastructure was ready by the time Rio was a venue for UsefulNotes/TheWorldCup two years prior, buildings getting overpriced and/or behind schedule were tragically common. Brazil getting hit by an economic recession, a drought in Rio's region, Dilma Rousseff's impeachment, a Zika virus outbreak (and graphic photos of babies suffering from microcephaly), and constant reminders that the water around Rio is highly polluted did not help matters. The IOC even held meetings with Madrid authorities in case the Spanish capital needed to take over.

*** The cycling road race was a massive subject of contention. There were three different routes (for the men's, women's, and Paralympic races), and all three failed safety checks before the Games even began. The Brazilians took some measures, which was mostly sticking mesh to trees, and nobody was satisfied. In the men's race, over a dozen cyclists ended up in the hospital and everyone got itchy. Then the women raced, and one of the cyclists expected to medal spun into the gutter and broke her neck. She began recovery very quickly, but not after outrage - in particular, GB commentator and former athlete Chris Boardman ripping his microphone off and leaving the studio to find the nearest BBC camera crew and ranting on and on. Come the Paralympics and an Iranian cyclist came off on the downhill and broke his neck in the same way as the Dutch woman, and suffered a fatal heart attack as a result.

** While no one would admit this out loud, the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 that killed three people and injured hundreds of others (including causing 17 people to lose limbs) had made the city weary about hosting another really big sporting event. It doesn't help that it would also be TemptingFate within the history of the Games themselves, since the previous Summer Olympics held in America -- Atlanta in 1996 -- also had a deadly bombing attack.

* Related to the above: Thanks to the rising costs of hosting the Olympics, much like the bid for 2022, many prospective hosts besides Boston withdrew their bids for 2024. Then when the IOC narrowed down the candidates, three of them ended up withdrawing anyway, either due to costs or because referendums voted against the bid. In the end, only two cities - Paris and Los Angeles - bid for the 2024 Games, and it was decided that whoever lost the bid for 2024 (which ended up being Los Angeles) would get to host the 2028 Olympics instead - because the IOC was afraid ''no one'' would bid for 2028.

** The bizarre saga of Elizabeth Swaney, a thoroughly average skier from America who was able to get onto the Hungarian team through severe LoopholeAbuse, after previous attempts at Sochi. In an Olympics already swimming in controversies, this is easily the strangest as both participants and viewers are sharply divided over whether she's a disgrace to the Games or a [[Film/{{Rudy}} Rudy Ruettiger]]-esque inspiration for being such a {{Determinator}}. Though she certainly didn't help her case with her entitled behavior after her near-trickless run didn't get her into the finals.

** Then just months before they were set to start, the Games got bumped back by a year due to the pandemic, marking the first time in the history of the Olympics that they have been postponed (although as mentioned above they have been outright cancelled three times due to the World Wars). In January 2021, Japanese government officials were reported to have privately conceded that holding the Olympics at present would be next to impossible and considered hosting the Games in 2022, the next available year.

** Relations between China and the international community had significantly worsened during the interim years -- namely over the forced resettlement and detention of approximately one million Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang, repression of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, military threats towards Taiwan, and lingering diplomatic fallout from the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic -- leading to multiple calls for the Winter Games to be boycotted.

* UsefulNotes/SuperBowl XLV, the championship game of the 2010-11 NFL season. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wanted to use the game to showcase his team's brand-new $1.15 billion Cowboys Stadium (now known as AT&T Stadium), and to break the Super Bowl attendance record. However, the week in the run-up to the game was a comedy of errors.

** At the end of the day, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25. And the total attendance was 103,219, only 766 short of the record.

** If anything good came from this debacle, however, it was that it it ''finally'' convinced the city of Minneapolis to replace the long-outdated Metrodome, an argument that had been ongoing since as early as the mid-'90s and nearly became a CreatorKiller for the Twins (who were nearly ''contracted'' by Major League Baseball due to their poor stadium situation until they built Target Field in 2010) and the Vikings (who would nearly move over the issue, with most rumors pegging them for Los Angeles); the Metrodome would subsequently be re-roofed with a new fabric for its' remaining 2 years of operation before being demolished to make room for the new US Bank Stadium on the same site. Ironically, the Vikings actually ended up back at TCF Bank Stadium for the 2014 and 2015 seasons while the new stadium was being built, but with much better advance preparation this time around (such as a new playing surface with heating coils), the team was able to take the necessary steps to keep the field safe for play even in the frigid Minnesota winter (most notably being able to withstand windchills of as low as -20 degrees Celsius during a Vikings playoff game in 2015).

* During the first quarter of a January 2023 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamiln went into cardiac arrest shortly after tackling Bengals WR Tee Higgins.[[note]]It was later determined that Hamlin suffered commotio cordis, an often-fatal disruption of heart rhythm that results from a blow to the area directly over the heart during a critical instant during a heartbeat cycle. Higgins' helmet had struck Hamlin's chest during the tackle. The condition is rare because it can only occur during a window of about 40 milliseconds in the heart's electrical cycle. There have been other occurrences of this in sports in the past, one example being NHL player Scott Stevens going into cardiac arrest after getting hit in the chest with a puck while trying to block a shot (to his credit [[WasItReallyWorthIt he did block it]]), like Hamlin he would fully recover and come back to play[[/note]] After being administered CPR on the field for almost ten minutes, Hamlin was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Both teams refused to resume the game, which would be suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and later outright cancelled, resulting in the game officially going in the books as a no-contest. This was thus the first regular-season game cancellation since 1987 and the first ever regular-season game to get canceled for something other than weather or a players' strike. One silver lining in all this: a [=GoFundMe=] started by Hamlin prior to his collapse to raise money for a toy drive ended up getting over almost $9 million in donations once his story hit the national news. While Hamlin recovered with his mental faculties mostly intact -- to the point that doctors called it an outright miracle that he retained as much as he did -- the fact Hamlin came within moments of death caused a lot of discussion in American sports media following the game. Hamlin has since been cleared to play again and remains on the Bills' active roster.

** In all, CBS - in addition to gaining prestige in breaking what turned out to be the big news story in the Pan-Am Games - ended up with a $600,000 profit while the 1983 Pan-Am Games gained a measure of notoriety as the first major sporting event that included reasonably accurate steroid testing.

* UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}}, 2000: In an event-specific example, the technicians who set up the equipment for the women's gymnastics all-around final somehow set the vaulting horse to the wrong height, 5 centimeters (2 inches) lower than the regulation height, causing many gymnasts to fall. The error was discovered, but not until a full half of the competitors had already vaulted, and the news didn't make its way to everyone until well into the third rotation, by which point the loss of confidence had already caused a number of mistakes on subsequent events that knocked those athletes out of medal contention (not to mention that one gymnast was injured and could not finish the competition); the gymnasts who vaulted on the improperly-set horse were offered do-overs on vault, but their scores on the other events had to stand. To this day, many fans feel that the actions were insufficient and that officials should have stopped the competition completely and done a full do-over at some later point, rather than pushing forward with a competition already affected in countless ways by the error.

** The Games themselves were an overall success and actually turned a small profit, but the run-up was marred by scandal as the IOC was given free rein to turn the city into their personal fiefdom: Special traffic lanes for Olympic athletes, [[http://gawker.com/5913175/behold-the-london-olympics-creepy-brand-exclusion-zone ridiculously-aggressive trademark enforcement]], and the apparent suspension of local anti-competitive behavior laws did ''not'' endear the Olympics to many sectors of the press, the zenith - or nadir - of the absurdity coming when UsefulNotes/McDonalds were given an exclusive monopoly license to sell ''chips'' anywhere within Olympic venues. It was also about this time that serious public attention was focused on the steadily-escalating cost of the Games and the questionable long-term benefits.

** The difficulties with venues were, to some, exacerbated by unseasonable warm temperatures that made the Sochi games the warmest Winter Games ''ever''. While part of Russia's marketing for the Games had been that they would be the first Winter Games where [[http://www.cbsnews.com/news/warm-weather-causing-problems-for-outdoor-sports-at-the-sochi-winter-olympic-games/ it would be possible to lounge on a beach between events]] held in the mountains where there would be no shortage of the snow everyone expects a Russian winter to abound in [[note]](Sochi is, in fact, one of the few areas of Russia that has average temperatures above freezing at that time of year)[[/note]], they certainly didn't expect it to be so warm that a BBC reporter could cover a ski-jumping event wearing ''shorts'' because it was close to 15°C (around 60°F). Needless to say, this led to more complaints.

** The biggest impact, however, reared its head in Week ''15''. With the Metrodome still out of commission, the NFL directed the team to play their final home game against the Chicago Bears at the University of Minnesota's TCF Bank Stadium[[labelnote:*]]now known as Huntington Bank Stadium[[/labelnote]] - an ''outdoor'' stadium that was not designed for winter games[[note]]Keep in mind that the college football season ends in mid-November, before Minnesota's famously brutal winter shows up[[/note]]. Players expressed concerns about this, specifically mentioning the lack of any kind of heating system to thaw the turf; punter Chris Kluwe[[note]]you might recognize his name from his fiery defense of fellow player Brandon Ayanbadejo's pro-gay marriage comments a few years later[[/note]] flat-out stated that the ground was "hard as concrete" and posed a risk of concussions, but the NFL and coaches decided to go ahead with it anyway and chided Kluwe for talking about the conditions on social media. Kluwe's prediction ended up coming true as partway through the game, Vikings quarterback Brett Favre struck his head on the frozen turf and sustained what he would describe as the worst concussion he'd ever had[[note]]he reportedly asked his trainer why the Bears were there[[/note]], bringing the Hall of Famer's legendary career to an end on a sour note. To date, no one has yet admitted that playing that game on that field might have been a mistake.
** If anything good came from this debacle, however, it was that it it ''finally'' convinced the city of Minneapolis to replace the long-outdated Metrodome, an argument that had been ongoing since as early as the mid-'90s and nearly became a CreatorKiller for the Twins (who were nearly ''contracted'' by Major League Baseball due to their poor stadium situation until they built Target Field in 2010) and the Vikings (who would nearly move over the issue, with most rumors pegging them for Los Angeles); the Metrodome would subsequently be re-roofed with a new fabric for its' remaining 2 years of operation before being demolished to make room for the new US Bank Stadium on the same site. Ironically, the Vikings actually ended up back at TCF Bank Stadium for the construction period, but with much better advance preparation this time around, the team was able to take the necessary steps to keep the field safe for play even in the frigid Minnesota winter (most notably being able to withstand windchills of as low as -20 degrees Celsius during a Vikings playoff game in 2015).

** One of the biggest race day debacles in Formula One's history happened at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl2n6FjuyPI the 2005 United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis]]. During practice, multiple cars running on Michelin tires suffered failures on Turn 13 (a banked oval corner; the only one on the entire Formula 1 calendar). Michelin realised that their tires were unsafe for this circuit, and could fail after as few as 10 laps. Not helping matters was a new-for-2005 rule preventing cars from changing tires during the race. Last-minute negotiations with FIA to add a chicane or otherwise slow down the cars going into that turn went nowhere; so after taking part in the parade lap, 14 of the 20 drivers returned to the pits on orders from their teams and didn't race (despite some pleading to be allowed to start). The other six drivers (who were using Bridgestone tires instead, and benefited from the fact that Bridgestone's Firestone subsidiary was the tire supplier of the UsefulNotes/IndyCar oval racing series[[note]]The track had been re-paved after the 2004 race with a much more abrasive surface, Bridgestone knew what to expect and brought a tire with a much harder (and slower) compound, Michelin had to just take a guess and got it wrong. Eventually F1 would throw the black flag on both tire suppliers and bring in Pirelli[[/note]]) quickly realized that all they had to do was avoid crashing and finish the race, and they would get standings points by default. So the race became a high-speed parade, with none of the drivers seriously challenging each other; this only enraged the crowd, some of whom even threw trash on the track. Spectators were further angered when their requests for a refund were refused; thousands of them left the race early, and those who remained loudly booed the top three finishers on the podium. The teams later pointed out that under Indiana state law, they could have faced criminal charges for reckless endangerment had they forced their drivers to take part - and that was if no one had gotten hurt. If someone had... (It's also believed that law was why a potential lawsuit by the FIA was avoided: if ''they'' had forced the drivers to race, ''they'd'' be the one facing charges.) This race not only killed Indianapolis as the location of the United States Grand Prix, but also the presence of multiple competing tire manufacturers that teams could choose from[[note]]Though this isn't really a bad thing, as competing tire manufacturers have a tendency to sacrifice safety for the sake of speed, with sadly predictable results. This has also been a problem in NASCAR (and probably warrants its own entry), as explained by these [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIwr2uCNXIc two]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu5b8oYwiQM videos]]. Having one company make the tires for every car on the track means the focus is on safety and quality control, speed doesn't matter as much since all the tires are supposed to be identical[[/note]], as well as the "no tire changes" rule altogether.

* UsefulNotes/IndyCar planned to host a street race in Boston but, much like the aborted Olympic bid, public opinion was overwhelmingly against holding the race. Then it got canceled. Then it turned into a "he-said-she-said" situation: the organizers blamed the government for making increasing and unreasonable demands, the government said the organizers didn't know what they were doing and were mismanaging it into the ground. Then the organizers filed for bankruptcy and claimed they had no funds to issue refunds, forcing [=IndyCar=] to step up and offer their own money to refund with, in order to maintain the goodwill of their fans. Now the organizers are facing bankruptcy and ''two'' lawsuits, one from [=IndyCar=] for breach of contract, and one from the Massachusetts attorney general on behalf of the ticket holders who didn't get refunds. The only silver lining in all this is that Watkins Glen International (always a popular racetrack) offered to step in and host an [=IndyCar=] race for the first time in six years.

** By the Friday before race day, the drivers had had enough, and appealed to France and the newly-formed [[InsistentTerminology totally-not-a-union]] Professional Driver Association (PDA) to get the race postponed. France, however, was deep in debt from construction on Talladega, and he needed the race to make his money back; it would go on as scheduled no matter what. In response, every PDA-affiliated driver save for Richard Brickhouse (who raced for Chrysler's company team and was offered the opportunity to [[AwesomeDearBoy race their new Dodge Charger Daytona]]) [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere boycotted the race]] out of fear for their safety, knowing that a tire blowout at such speeds could easily lead to a fatal wreck. According to Bobby Allison, when France called Allison a coward for not wanting to race, his fellow driver [=LeeRoy=] Yarbrough [[RageBreakingPoint punched France in the face]].

* The 2022 World Cup in Qatar [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_2022_FIFA_World_Cup_controversies was questioned from the get-go, is abusing its workers, will screw up the sports calendar, and people even calling for it to be moved elsewhere]]. The 2022 World Cup was one of the most mismanaged events in the history of world sports, with everyone involved being accused of corruption. Time will tell what will happen next.

** A 2013 investigation by The Guardian newspaper claiming that many workers were denied food and water, had their identity papers taken away from them, compelled to forced labor, and that they were not paid on time or at all, making some of them effectively slaves. By the time that the games started, it was stated that an estimated ''6000 workers'' died.

** The 1984 withdrawal also had ramifications at [=McDonald's=], as [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19334_the-5-biggest-disasters-in-history-marketing-ideas.html Cracked reports]]. The restaurant ran an "If the U.S. wins, you win!" promotion where customers were given a scratch card with an Olympic event on it; if the US won a medal in that event, the customer would get a free Big Mac (for gold), fries (for silver), or drink (for bronze). With the Soviet Union and their allies (the US' biggest rivals) boycotting the games, this led to the American team winning a '''lot''' more medals than they would have otherwise, including more than twice as many gold medals as they did in 1976 (83 in '84 compared to 34 competing against Russia in '76), and [=McDonald's=] had to give away a '''lot''' of valuable Big Macs for free, to the point where many stores were reporting running out of them. ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' would later parody this incident in the episode "Lisa's First Word", where Krusty tries the same thing and later threatens to spit in every 50th burger.

** Like Munich, the Atlanta Games were also the site of a terrorist attack, this one a bombing by a RightWingMilitiaFanatic named Eric Rudolph that killed two people and injured over a hundred more.

* UsefulNotes/{{Sydney}}, 2000:
** In an event-specific example, the technicians who set up the equipment for the women's gymnastics all-around final somehow set the vaulting horse to the wrong height, 5 centimeters (2 inches) lower than the regulation height, causing many gymnasts to fall. The error was discovered, but not until a full half of the competitors had already vaulted, and the news didn't make its way to everyone until well into the third rotation, by which point the loss of confidence had already caused a number of mistakes on subsequent events that knocked those athletes out of medal contention (not to mention that one gymnast was injured and could not finish the competition); the gymnasts who vaulted on the improperly-set horse were offered do-overs on vault, but their scores on the other events had to stand. To this day, many fans feel that the actions were insufficient and that officials should have stopped the competition completely and done a full do-over at some later point, rather than pushing forward with a competition already affected in countless ways by the error.

* UsefulNotes/{{Beijing}}, 2008. The UsefulNotes/{{Chin|a}}ese government went out of its way to prevent a troubled production, issuing new etiquette guidelines for the Beijing police, foiling a terrorist plot by Uighur separatists, and undertaking a massive anti-pollution campaign to ensure that the city's famously smoggy skies would be clear for the Games (several athletes had chosen to train overseas for this reason, only showing up in Beijing when they actually had to perform). However, controversies still popped up - the opening ceremony was marred by the revelation that the singer they had perform "Ode to the Motherland" had been lip-synching, there were questions surrounding the age of some of the Chinese gymnasts, and despite the government's best efforts, there were still pollution problems, with some athletes pulling out of events due to poor air quality. This was on top of calls for boycotts of the Games due to China's human rights issues.
* UsefulNotes/{{Vancouver}}, 2010. UsefulNotes/{{Georgia|Europe}}n luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was killed during a training run, raising concerns over the safety of the luge course. [[note]](As a preventive measure, the walls at the exit of the curve where Nodar was killed were raised, and the ice profile was adjusted. The start of the men's luge was moved down track to the women's starting point, to reduce speed, while the start of the women's luge was also moved farther down the track accordingly.)[[/note]] Also, since an El Niño event was going on, the Games often found themselves chronically short of snow due to the abnormally warm weather; snow had to be trucked in from higher in the mountains.

** It emerged afterwards that Russia presided over a state-run doping program involving corrupt anti-doping officials, intelligence agents, and dozens of athletes including members of the cross-country ski team and two medal-winning bobsledders. The doping program allowed Russian athletes (who had previously performed poorly in Vancouver) to outperform their American rivals and win the most medals at Sochi. The pervasiveness of the doping program and Russia's refusal to cooperate with the World Anti-Doping Agency led to Russia's track and field team being banned from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The IOC nearly went one step further by completely banning the Russian delegation from the 2016 games, but decided instead to let each sport's governing body decide if certain Russian athletes could participate while banning any Russian athlete with a prior doping sanction (though Russia was banned from the Rio Paralympics). As a result, of the original lineup of 387 Russian delegates, only 272 were approved to participate, with most of the banned athletes outside of the aforementioned track and field team being weightlifters and rowers. For the 2018 Winter Olympics, the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended in December 2017 due to the doping scandal. Athletes who had no previous drug violations and a consistent history of drug testing were to be allowed to compete under the Olympic Flag as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia" (OAR). Under the terms of the decree, Russian government officials were barred from the Games, and neither the country's flag nor anthem would be present. However, even this wasn't enough to gain compliance from Russia (two Russian athletes were ''still'' caught doping), to the point that in December 2019 the World Anti-Doping Agency ultimately decided to bring down the hammer and ban Russia from major international sporting competitions, including the Olympics and World Cup, for four years. (While individual athletes from Russia are allowed to compete under a neutral flag, teams were banned from the Tokyo games.)

* The attempt by UsefulNotes/{{Boston}} to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games [[http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/08/18/boston-olympics-report-real-risks-bid-officials-say/U0664w7BMeTVCMtY3mSXbO/story.html was full of problems]], and proves that you don't even have to ''win'' hosting the Games to have trouble with the Olympics.

** Add to that a history of city officials pitching grandiose projects like The Big Dig that go horrifically over budget and time (see the "Other" page), and there was skepticism and outright scorn towards Boston 2024 from the start. This was not helped by attempts by the city to make it appear the idea had more support than it did, which got them accused of {{Astro Turf}}ing, including using plants at community meetings to intimidate the opposition and a ban on city employees publicly criticizing the bid.

** Over the next two years following Sochi, largely due to public pressure from citizens about costs, a number of desirable locations in Europe withdrew their bids for the 2022 Winter Olympics... leaving only Beijing, China and Almaty, Kazakhstan, major cities in countries not known for their commitment to the kind of democracy that allows angry citizens to force governments to withdraw Olympic bids. The IOC's widely-ridiculed decision to award those Games to Beijing, which might under other circumstances have celebrated and been praised for being the first city ever to host both the Summer and Winter Games, was a last-ditch effort to [[FranchiseKiller save the Winter Games]], because at least they know the Chinese can do it however imperfectly.[[note]]And for the 2026 Winter Olympics, Italy split the venues between Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.[[/note]]

** The 1984 withdrawl also had ramifications at [=McDonald's=], as [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19334_the-5-biggest-disasters-in-history-marketing-ideas.html Cracked reports]]. The restaurant ran an "If the U.S. wins, you win!" promotion where customers were given a scratch card with an Olympic event on it; if the US won a medal in that event, the customer would get a free Big Mac (for gold), fries (for silver), or drink (for bronze). With the Soviet Union and their allies (the US' biggest rivals) boycotting the games, this led to the American team winning a '''lot''' more medals than they would have otherwise, including more than twice as many gold medals as they did in 1976 (83 in '84 compared to 34 competing against Russia in '76), and [=McDonald's=] had to give away a '''lot''' of valuable Big Macs for free, to the point where many stores were reporting running out of them. ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' would later parody this incident in the episode "Lisa's First Word", where Krusty tries the same thing and later threatens to spit in every 50th burger.

* UsefulNotes/{{Athens}}, 2004. Construction was severely behind schedule, with key facilities like the tram system and the Olympic Stadium itself only being finished less than two months before the start of the Games. The design for the Aquatics Center had to be greatly scaled back (by deciding not to install a roof) in order to finish it on time. The 2004 Summer Games would later become mainly known for two things: being so expensive that it was a major contributor to the ''entire country of Greece'' nearly going bankrupt, and for the massive amounts of Olympic venues that were abandoned and left to rot after the games because the people of Athens have no use for them.
* UsefulNotes/{{Beijing}}, 2008. The UsefulNotes/{{Chin|a}}ese government went out of its way to prevent a troubled production, issuing new etiquette guidelines for Beijing police, foiling a terrorist plot by Uighur separatists, and undertaking a massive anti-pollution campaign to ensure that the city's famously smoggy skies would be clear for the Games (several athletes had chosen to train overseas for this reason, only showing up in Beijing when they actually had to perform). However, controversies still popped up - the opening ceremony was marred by the revelation that the singer they had perform "Ode to the Motherland" had been lip-synching, there were questions surrounding the age of some of the Chinese gymnasts, and despite the government's best efforts, there were still pollution problems, with some athletes pulling out of events due to poor air quality. This was on top of calls for boycotts of the Games due to China's human rights issues.

** It emerged afterwards that Russia presided over a state-run doping program involving corrupt anti-doping officials, intelligence agents, and dozens of athletes including members of the cross-country ski team and two medal-winning bobsledders. The doping program allowed Russian athletes (who had previously performed poorly in Vancouver) to outperform their American rivals and win the most medals at Sochi. The pervasiveness of the doping program and Russia's refusal to cooperate with the World Anti-Doping Agency led to Russia's track and field team being banned from the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The IOC nearly went one step further by completely banning the Russian delegation from the 2016 games, but decided instead to let each sport's governing body decide if certain Russian athletes could participate while banning any Russian athlete with a prior doping sanction (though Russia was banned from the Rio Paralympics). As a result, of the original lineup of 387 Russian delegates, only 272 were approved to participate, with most of the banned athletes outside of the aforementioned track and field team being weightlifters and rowers. For the 2018 Winter Olympics, the Russian Olympic Committee was suspended in December 2017 due to the doping scandal. Athletes who had no previous drug violations and a consistent history of drug testing were to be allowed to compete under the Olympic Flag as an "Olympic Athlete from Russia" (OAR). Under the terms of the decree, Russian government officials were barred from the Games, and neither the country's flag nor anthem would be present. However, even this wasn't enough to gain compliance from Russia (two Russian athletes were ''still'' caught doping), to the point that in December 2019 the World Anti-Doping Agency ultimately decided to bring down the hammer and ban Russia from major international sporting competitions, including the Olympics and World Cup, for four years. (While individual athletes from Russia are allowed to compete under a neutral flag, teams have been banned from the Tokyo games.)

** While no one would admit this out loud, the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013 that killed three people and injured hundreds of others (including causing 17 people to lose limbs) had made the city weary about hosting another really big sporting event. It doesn't help that it would also be TemptingFate within the history of the Games themselves, since the previous Olympics held in America -- Atlanta in 1996 -- also had a deadly bombing attack.

** Another obstacle came in the way regarding the Russian team's chance of playing. Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Sweden, Poland, and Czech Republic announced that they would not be participating in the games if Russia was involved. FIFA decided to respond by banning Russia from trying out, a decision that received a lot of praise and condemnation.

** Early Sunday morning, the stadium demonstrated exactly why not having the snow cleared was a safety hazard, as the bubble roof gave out under the weight of the snow and collapsed. There were no injuries as it happened so early that no one was on site yet, but there was no way to fix it in time and no suitable alternative in the Twin Cities, so the game was relocated to Detroit.

** While Australia had a lot of success in combatting the virus and was back to a semblance of normalcy by early 2021, the Australian Open had a rough time getting off the ground. The event usually happens throughout the second half of January, but it was pushed back to mid-February to allow everyone to get there and through the mandatory two-week quarantine. The tournament organizers had arranged for the players and their staffs to come on 15 chartered flights from various places around the world and keep everyone in a softer form of the quarantine than your average Joe had to (they were allowed out for five hours a day for practice) to enter the country. However, two flights coming in from Abu Dhabi and Los Angeles had positive cases, causing about 50 players and 200 people total to have to go into a hard two-week quarantine. Everyone was released from it on 29 January with two weeks of friendlies to get everyone back into the [[JustForPun swing of things]] and get used to playing in front of a crowd again, albeit one capped at 50% capacity.

* The [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic COVID-19 pandemic]] has caused many sporting events to be postponed, cancelled, held without spectators, or moved to another country altogether, including tournaments, Olympic qualifying events, and races. This has even put a big question mark on the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo due to Japan's proximity to China, where the disease originated, and how contagious the coronavirus is (as of 24 March 2020 the IOC and Prime Minister Abe have agreed to postpone the games to 2021, with the caveat that if it isn't hosted then [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/marleycoyne/2020/04/28/next-years-olympics-will-be-scrapped-if-pandemic-persists-through-2021/#7f65ed1036bd it will be canceled entirely]]; as it happens, the 2020 Olympics are proceeding, albeit one year late).
** Even entire ''seasons'' have been affected by the pandemic: the NBA suspended its season after two members of the Utah Jazz tested positive, and the NHL quickly followed suit due to many teams sharing an arena with NBA teams. Opening Day for MLB was also been delayed, and March Madness (i.e., the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament) was canceled (as was the women's version).

** And when sports competitions have come back, as demonstrated in Taiwan's baseball league, South Korea's baseball and soccer leagues, and the German Bundesliga, spectators are not allowed, at least in the initial stages of reopening. The major sports leagues in the United States also explored playing games in a limited number of venues (2-4 "hub cities" for teams, as opposed to 30-32 individual stadiums or arenas) to enhance safety procedures.

** One of the biggest race day debacles in Formula One's history happened at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl2n6FjuyPI the 2005 United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis]]. During practice, multiple cars running on Michelin tires suffered failures on Turn 13 (a banked oval corner; the only one on the entire Formula 1 calendar). Michelin realised that their tires were unsafe for this circuit, and could fail after as few as 10 laps. Not helping matters was a new-for-2005 rule preventing cars from changing tires during the race. Last-minute negotiations with FIA to add a chicane or otherwise slow down the cars going into that turn went nowhere; so after taking part in the parade lap, 14 of the 20 drivers returned to the pits on orders from their teams and didn't race (despite some pleading to be allowed to start). The other six drivers (who were using Bridgestone tires instead, and benefited from the fact that Bridgestone's Firestone subsidiary was the tire supplier of the UsefulNotes/IndyCar oval racing series[[note]]The track had been re-paved after the 2004 race with a much more abrasive surface, Bridgestone knew what to expect and brought a tire with a much harder (and slower) compound, Michelin had to just take a guess and got it wrong. Eventually F1 would throw the black flag on both tire suppliers and bring in Pirelli[[/note]]) quickly realized that all they had to do was avoid crashing and finish the race, and they would get standings points by default. So the race became a high-speed parade, with none of the drivers seriously challenging each other; this only enraged the crowd, some of whom even threw trash on the track. Spectators were further angered when their requests for a refund were refused; thousands of them left the race early, and those who remained loudly booed the top three finishers on the podium. The teams later pointed out that under Indiana state law, they could have faced criminal charges for reckless endangerment had they forced their drivers to take part - and that was if no one had gotten hurt. If someone had... (It's also believed that law was why a potential lawsuit by the FIA was avoided: if ''they'' had forced the drivers to race, ''they'd'' be the one facing charges.) This race not only killed Indianapolis as the location of the United States Grand Prix, but also the presence of multiple competing tire manufacturers that teams could choose from, as well as the "no tire changes" rule altogether.

* During the first quarter of a January 2023 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamiln went into cardiac arrest shortly after tackling Bengals WR Tee Higgins.[[note]]It was later determined that Hamlin suffered commotio cordis, an often-fatal disruption of heart rhythm that results from a blow to the area directly over the heart during a critical instant during a heartbeat cycle. Higgins' helmet had struck Hamlin's chest during the tackle. The condition is rare because it can only occur during a window of about 40 milliseconds in the heart's electrical cycle.[[/note]] After being administered CPR on the field for almost ten minutes, Hamlin was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Both teams refused to resume the game, which would be suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and later outright cancelled, resulting in the game officially going in the books as a no-contest. This was thus the first regular-season game cancellation since 1987 and the first ever regular-season game to get canceled for something other than weather or a players' strike. One silver lining in all this: a [=GoFundMe=] started by Hamlin prior to his collapse to raise money for a toy drive ended up getting over almost $9 million in donations once his story hit the national news. While Hamlin recovered with his mental faculties mostly intact -- to the point that doctors called it an outright miracle that he retained as much as he did -- the fact Hamlin came within moments of death caused a lot of discussion in American sports media following the game. Hamlin has since been cleared to play again and remains on the Bills' active roster.

** The actual events went off fairly smoothly until a doping scandal broke after several weightlifters tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, in most cases anabolic steroids (among them, American Jeff Michaels, who was stripped of his three gold medals) and that 12 American track-and-field athletes were planning to leave hours before track events began, as a positive test would result in a lifetime ban; resulting in CBS assigning a series of crews in a form of ambush journalism to confront the athletes. The story broke on CBS Radio and even managed to be the top story on that night's ''Series/CBSEveningNews''. In all, 17 athletes tested positive (mostly for anabolic steroids) and a total of 21 medals were revoked while a follow-up story revealed that Chuck Debus, an American track coach, routinely prescribed steroids as part of his training background after American sprinter Lisa Hopkins withdrew. One of the athletes who left, Mike Tully, would later return, win the gold medal in the pole vault and his drug test would be clean.

%%[[folder:Other]]
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** The men's marathon event, as covered in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4AhABManTw this video]] by Creator/JonBois, was so poorly organized and officiated that it led to three near-fatalities. Olympic organizer James E. Sullivan purposely provided only one official source of water 11 miles into the 25-mile route to test his theories of [[MadScientist how far purposeful dehydration could be taken]]. Combined with the hot temperatures (90°F/32°C) and unpaved roads, this lead to life-threatening conditions for the athletes; William Garcia was found lying on the road with his lungs shredded by breathing in clouds of dust from passing cars. Andarín Carvajal stopped to eat apples along the route and found out the hard way they were rotten [[note]](despite taking a nap to sleep off the sickness, he still managed to finish in fourth place)[[/note]]. Thomas Hicks [[note]](who was declared winner after Fred Lorz was disqualified for taking a car for over half the route)[[/note]], was given '''[[WorstAid rat poison and brandy]]''' in place of water by his trainers following him. Hicks had to be carried across the finish line by his team, and likely would have died there if not for doctors giving him prompt medical attention.
*** In the end, the marathon holds the worst ratio of entrants to finishers with only 14 of 32 finishing, and by far the slowest winning time with 3:28:45.

* During the first quarter of a January 2023 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamiln went into cardiac arrest shortly after tackling Bengals WR Tee Higgins. After being administered CPR on the field for almost ten minutes, Hamlin was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Both teams refused to resume the game, which would be suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and later outright cancelled, resulting in the game officially going in the books as a no-contest. This was thus the first regular season game cancellation since 1987 and the first ever regular season game to get canceled for something other than weather or a player's strike. One silver lining in all this: a [=GoFundMe=] started by Hamlin prior to his collapse to raise money for a toy drive ended up getting over almost $9 million in donations once his story hit the national news. While Hamlin recovered with his mental faculties mostly intact -- to the point that doctors called it an outright miracle that he retained as much as he did -- the fact Hamlin came within moments of death caused a lot of discussion in American sports media following the game. Hamlin has since been cleared to play again and remains on the Bills' active roster.

* During the first quarter of a January 2023 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamiln went into cardiac arrest shortly after tackling Bengals WR Tee Higgins. After being administered CPR on the field for almost ten minutes, Hamlin was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Both teams refused to resume the game, which would be suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and later outright cancelled, resulting in the game officially going in the books as a no-contest. This was thus the first regular season game cancellation since 1987 and the first ever regular season game to get canceled for something other than weather or a player's strike. One silver lining in all this: a [=GoFundMe=] started by Hamlin prior to his collapse to raise money for a toy drive ended up getting over almost $9 million in donations once his story hit the national news. While Hamlin recovered with his mental faculties mostly intact -- to the point that doctors called it an outright miracle that he retained as much as he did -- the fact Hamlin came within moments of death caused a lot of discussion in American sports media following the game.

** The revival of the United States Grand Prix was briefly endangered by a contract dispute between Bernie Ecclestone and the backers of Circuit of the Americas, a purpose-built road course in Austin, Texas, which nearly led to the abandonment of the track. However, the parties were able to come to terms, and the race ultimately went off on schedule at the end of the 2012 season. The same can't be said of [=F1=]'s planned US street race, the Grand Prix of America in New Jersey, which slipped into DevelopmentHell amidst vicious contract disputes after missing the schedule for ''three straight years'' due to lack of funds for construction.[[note]]With Ecclestone no longer in the picture after the sale of F1 to Liberty Media and the concept being taken to Miami instead (the Miami Grand Prix, first held in May 2022, runs on a street course near Hard Rock Stadium, home of the NFL's Miami Dolphins), the NYC Formula 1 race is all but dead.[[/note]]

** Those calls only intensified in November 2021 when Peng Shuai, a Chinese tennis player and former Olympian, disappeared after accusing a high-ranking Communist Party official, Zhang Gaoli, of sexual assault, resulting in an international firestorm. By December 8, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia had announced they would engage in a diplomatic boycott of the Games, meaning that they would send their athletes to Beijing but political dignitaries would not be present,[[note]]They could not initiate a full boycott as had been done for Moscow 1980 due to recent changes to the Olympic Charter, which would effectively ban their athletes from competing in Paris if they pulled out completely.[[/note]] citing the Shuai case among many.

* During the first quarter of a January 2023 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, Bills safety Damar Hamiln went into cardiac arrest shortly after tackling Bengals WR Tee Higgins. After being administered CPR on the field for almost ten minutes, Hamlin was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Both teams refused to resume the game, which would be suspended by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and later outright cancelled, resulting in the game officially going in the books as a no-contest. This was thus the first regular season game cancellation since 1987 and the first ever regular season game to get cancelled for something other than weather or a player's strike. One silver lining in all this, a [=GoFundMe=] started by Hamlin prior to his collapse to raise money for a toy drive ended up getting over almost nine million dollars in donations once his story hit the national news. While Hamlin recovered with his mental faculties mostly intact -- to the point that doctors called it an outright miracle that he retrained as much as he did -- the fact Hamlin came within moments of death caused a lot of discussion in American sports media following the game.