Ten biggest blunders in Olympic history
David Wallechinsky, noted historian, essayist and general raconteur, also happens to be perhaps the world's leading Olympic historian. In his two compendiums, The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics and The Complete Book of the Olympics, Wallechinsky chronicles the Games since their inceptions, capturing the highlights and statistics, and the winners and the losers. But the books are also chock full of bloopers and blunders, which he believes have only added to our enjoyment of the games.
"I like odd stories," Wallechinsky says. (He also keeps tabs on the governments of the world at allgov.com, which may be odder than the Olympics.) His passion for those strange occurrences makes him the perfect man to help us come up with a list of the 10 biggest blunders in Olympic history.
Missed opportunities
Wallechinsky's favorite blunder happened in the 1960 Summer Games in Rome. A runner named Wym Essajas was the pride of Suriname, the first-ever athlete to participate in the Olympics from the country. Essajas was scheduled to compete in the 800-meter race, but he was given the wrong starting time. He decided to take a nap and ended up sleeping through his event, breaking the heart of his country. Suriname would have to wait another eight years to field another Olympian.
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Next on his list is the sad saga of the man who ate too much.
"Thomas Hamilton-Brown of South Africa lost his opening-round match in Lightweight Boxing in 1936 [the Berlin Summer Games]," says Wallechinsky. "He softened the disappointment of his loss by going on an eating binge. Then it was discovered that there had been a scoring error and he had actually won the fight.
Unfortunately, he had already put on five pounds and was unable to get rid of it by the next day's weigh-in." The gluttonous boxer was disqualified.
Then there's the blooper that proves tennis is indeed a contact sport. In the 1912 Summer Games in Stockholm, in the mixed-doubles tennis final, Sigrid Fick of Sweden accidentally smashed her partner Gunnar Setterwall in the face with her racquet during the first set. The Official Report of the 1912 Games, in the understated manner typical of that era, read: "This little accident put Setterwall off his game, for his play fell off tremendously." You don't say? The duo lost the gold 6-4, 6-0.
One of the most memorable blunders in Olympic history happened just four years ago in the Winter Olympics in Turin. American snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis had a comfortable lead heading into the final jump of the gold-medal race in the snowboard cross event. She decided to add a little spice to her finish, attempting a totally unnecessary "method grab" in the air. Her showboating ultimately cost her the gold: When she landed, she caught an edge and fell as Tanja Frieden of Switzerland whizzed by her to snatch the gold.
"She definitely styled that a little too hard," her coach said afterward. That was the understatement of the Olympics.
But the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul featured one of the greatest blunders in history – and it was on the part of the judges. In the gold medal boxing bout American Roy Jones Jr. absolutely pummeled Park Si-Hun, a South Korean, landing 86 punches to Park's 32. Wallechinsky was in the front row for the match, calling it for NBC radio.
"Everyone in the arena assumed Jones won, even Park," says Wallechinsky. But just before the announcement of the winner, Wallechinsky says he noticed the Korean volunteers celebrating. "I caught the eye of Jones' coach and just shook my head," he says. Jones was robbed of the fight and the gold. The judges were later suspended.
Sometimes blunders lead to good – albeit lucky – things. In the medal heat of the 1,000-meter short-track speedskating event in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Australian Steven Bradbury was bringing up the rear on the final turn. Suddenly Chinese skater Li Jiajun fell and took out everyone in the race except for Bradbury, who coasted across the finish line to the gold medal.
"God smiles on you some days and this is my day," said a humbled but happy Bradbury after the race. (See the amazing video here.)
For most other blunders, there's no smiling whatsoever.
The list:
• En garde!: Slideshow
• Cyclists never learn: Slideshow
• Last man standing: Slideshow
• Cars are faster than legs: Slideshow
• You be the judge: Slideshow
• See more blunders
