Lists

Star Athletes Who Were Banned From Their Sport

Darren Ryding - October 8, 2024

Lists

Star Athletes Who Were Banned From Their Sport

Darren Ryding - October 8, 2024

Even the most successful athletes make terrible choices. You might think that athletes have the easiest lives, but the opposite is often true. If you’re operating at the highest level, then you’ll always be under immense pressure. Your team and maybe even your country will expect enormous things from you. However, some sports stars just can’t cope with this level of intensity.

That’s why so many elite athletes make mistakes. Unfortunately, they then have to suffer the consequences. Today, we’re going to look at some of the most famous bans in sports. Some of them were because of performance-enhancing drugs. Others committed horrific acts of violence. There are even some examples due to legal trouble. Ultimately, all of their stories made big news when they broke. Check out the list below.

30. Maria Sharapova

Russia’s Sharapova is one of the most decorated tennis players of all-time. A five-time Grand Slam winner, the former world number one is one of the sport’s most active players. However, she failed a drug test in 2016, stunning the entire tennis world. After the Australian Open, she tested for mildronate, a heart disease drug.

Initially, the International Tennis Federation banned her for two years. However, they reduced it to 15 months. Unfortunately for Sharapova, this incident tarnished her legacy. If you test positive once, an athlete will carry that for the rest of their career.

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29. Stanley Wilson

Three strikes and you’re out. When it comes to anti-doping, the NFL is not the most forgiving organization in the world. Wilson found this out the hard way. The Bengals fullback went afoul of their drug policy three times. That proved fatal for his football career. Was this too extreme? That’s an ethical debate.

Wilson infamously took cocaine on the eve of Superbowl XXIII. The Bengals had no choice but to cut him from their roster. This was his third cocaine-related incident. Instead of attempting to rehabilitate him, the NFL chose to ban him for life. Some believe that this was too harsh, while others think it was a fair decision.

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28. The Russian Paralympic Team

One of the most scandalous stories on this list involves the Russian paralympic team. The country was operating a state-sponsored doping program. This rocked the Olympic world. Russia had been under suspicion for a while and there was controversy involving their summer Olympic team.

The International Paralympic Committee placed a blanket ban on the Russian squad. Meanwhile, one of their enhanced athletes was a 15-year-old. Worse could come for the Russians. Their summer Olympics teams are under investigation. A blanket ban for the Tokyo Games could happen.

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27. Marion Jones

Jones’s story is one of the most disappointing on this list. The BALCO scandal left her a national disgrace. She won three gold medals and two bronze medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. But the International Olympic Committee ultimately stripped her of all of them.

Her ex-husband vowed that he had seen her inject steroids into her stomach. She vehemently denied this until her 2007 confession. A US court sentenced her to six months in jail. Meanwhile, the IOC banned her from the sport. Sometimes, it’s all just too good to be true.

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26. Justin Gatlin

Gatlin is one of the most decorated men in racing history. He won silver in 2019 to surpass Usain’s record of four medals. He is the 2004 Olympic champion in the 100 meters, the 2005 and 2017 World champion in the same event, and the 2005 World champion in the 200 meters.

USADA banned him for eight years in 2006 after he tested positive for testosterone. However, they reduced it to four years on an appeal. He’d bounce back to win the 2017 World Championships. But now there are question marks about every race he enters. Gatlin can win races, but not the love of the crowd.

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25. Michael Vick

This list wouldn’t be complete without the presence of Vick. He successfully played for the Falcons before the NFL suspended him indefinitely. He holds the record for the most career rushing yards by a quarterback and the most rushing yards by a quarterback in a season. However, Vick totally messed up his career.

Michael Vick, Virginia Tech — Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports

He was the leader of a dog-fighting ring that saw him spend 21 months in federal prison. This made him the source of infamy and obviously attracted a lot of negative media activity. Incredibly, he managed to reinvent himself after his release. Vick spent some successful seasons in Philadelphia after he was released from prison.

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24. Sun Yang

Chinese swimmer Sun may have been made in a laboratory, that’s how good he is. Sun is the first male swimmer in history to earn Olympic and World Championship gold medals at every freestyle distance from 200 metres to 1500 meters. But unfortunately, that comes with an asterisk.

In 2014, he tested positive for a banned substance. But the Chinese Swimming Association only banned him for four months. Currently, he’s in hot water for allegedly smashing vials of blood samples with a hammer. He could receive a lifetime ban from the sport.

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23. Rio Ferdinand

If you’re meant to take a drug test, then you should probably take it. That’s one of the golden rules of being a professional athlete. In 2003, Ferdinand missed a drug test to go shopping with his wife. The drug testers were waiting for him after a training session. However, the Manchester United man forgot about it and went shopping with his wife.

To sum up, the FA suspended him for eight months. Such bans are rare in soccer, so this was major news at the time. The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was furious. He saw it as a vendetta against his team and even ranted about the incident in his 2013 biography.

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22. Pepe

One of the most cynical soccer players in the history of the sport, Pepe is a true master of the dark arts. The Portuguese international carved out a deserved reputation for himself as an incredibly dirty player. He dives and he commits terrible fouls. It’s bad enough if you just do one or the other. However, one incident stands apart from all of the rest.

The Spanish FA banned him for 10 games after he basically assaulted Javier Casquero on the pitch. It happened back in 2009. After pushing the midfielder over, he saw red. Pepe kicked the midfielder twice, punched another player and insulted an official. All in a day’s work.

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21. Tyson Gay

Racing sports demand so much from their athletes. Cyclists, swimmers, and sprinters all push their bodies to their maximum. Occasionally, one will be so desperate to maximise their output that they’ll take something they shouldn’t. Enter Tyson Gay. The US sprinter is a three-time world champion and a four-time US national champion.

Gay was also an Olympic silver medalist in London. But then, the Olympic committee stripped him for doping. They gave him a one-year ban from the sport. It must hurt to take PEDs and still not win gold. Unfortunately, Gay shared his era with the brilliant Usain Bolt.

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20. Alberto Contador

Cycling experts called Contador the natural successor to Lance Armstrong. Little did they know how true this would turn out to be. Like Armstrong, Contador was remarkably successful on two wheels, but his career would be tarnished by drug test failures.

The Spaniard was a two-time winner of the Tour de France and also won the Vuelta A Espana three times. He won six successive Grand Tours, including the 2010 Tour de France. But it later emerged he had tested positive for clenbuterol after the race. The Court of Arbitration for Sport stripped him of his win and suspended him for his troubles.

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19. Mark Bosnich

There must be something in the air at Chelsea that makes you want to escape. Either that or the players just love to party. Bosnich was one of the best goalkeepers in the Premier League before it all went wrong for him. After seven brilliant seasons with Aston Villa, Bosnich moved to Manchester United and then onto Stamford Bridge.

Bosnich never played for United after they signed World Cup winner Fabien Barthez. But his subsequent move to Chelsea effectively ended his career. Injuries delayed him from making his debut. Then he tested positive for cocaine. The party was over and Chelsea sacked him for the offense. His career never recovered.

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18. Dexter Manley

Manley helped the Redskins to two Super Bowl wins in the 1980s. However, his life off the playing field was not as successful. He battled a number of addictions and even served jail time for drug-related offenses. Eventually, the NFL banned him for life after his fourth test failure.

Some believe that the NFL should have tried to rehabilitate him instead of just banning him. It created a new conversation in the sport. What causes a super-successful and rich athlete to go off the rails like that? Sadly, Manley never got to answer those questions as his career was over.

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17. Shane Warne

The cricketer is an Australian legend. He’s one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the game. Warne is also the only player to have scored more than 3,000 Test runs without a career century. The Australian played from 1990 until 2013. However, there were still controversies across his career.

A day before the 2003 World Cup, Warne failed a drug test. Subsequently, the Australian cricket board banned him for one year. He alleged that he had taken ‘Moduretic,’ a prescription drug designed to improve his appearance. But they considered it a performance-enhancing substance. It has not tarnished his legacy though.

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16. Eric Cantona

One of the most eccentric personalities in the history of soccer, Cantona was never far from controversy. However, his most infamous moment was back in 1995. That’s when he did his kung-fu kick into the crowd. The Frenchman was playing for Manchester United against Crystal Palace. Then a fan shouted abuse at him.

Cantona’s natural instinct was to jump over the advertising with a flying kick. The FA served him a lengthy nine-month ban. He also had to complete 120 hours of community service. When asked about the incident, he famously said, ‘When the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.’ Legendary.

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15. Plaxico Burress

Shooting yourself in the leg is probably punishment enough for being an idiot. Unfortunately for Burress, he fell afoul of the law as well. New York has some of the strictest gun regulations in the US. Burress found this out the hard way when he accidentally discharged a handgun in a nightclub, wounding himself.

The NFL suspended the Giants star for four games. Then he did jail time. Unregistered guns carry an automatic two-year sentence in New York. Unfortunately for Burress, his star power didn’t help him and he went down. The Giants released him, but he would sign with the Jets later.

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14. Kolo Toure

The elder of the Toure brothers was incredibly popular during his playing days. A hard-tackling central defender, Kolo played for Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool in a glittering career. He was even an Invincible during that incredible season at Highbury. However, even legends can make mistakes.

Like Rio Ferdinand before him, Kolo can blame his wife for what happened. He took some of her dieting pills and ended up failing an anti-doping test. Test failures are extremely rare at the highest level of soccer. The FA agreed that he hadn’t intended to improve his performance. They gave him a six-month ban.

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13. TJ Dillashaw

‘The Snake’ had it all. A two-time UFC bantamweight champion, he was on the fast track to greatness. Dillashaw recaptured his 135lb title by knocking out Cody Garbrandt. He then defended it against his nemesis again. Meanwhile, his scientific approach to strength and condition was lauded by the MMA world. Nobody could have expected what happened next.

First of all, he went down to flyweight and lost to the champion Henry Cejudo. Then the stunning news emerged that Dillashaw had tested positive for EPO. In short, Dillashaw was using the controversial substance to increase his endurance. The UFC stripped him of his title. Now he’s serving a two-year suspension. It doesn’t pay to cheat.

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12. Ben Johnson

Johnson went from having everything to being the most hated man in Canada. He was the first Canadian athlete in 60 years to win the 100m sprint at the Seoul Summer Olympics. Needless to say, this made him incredibly popular in his home country, but things suddenly took a turn for the worse.

The Olympic Doping Control Center found that Johnson’s urine sample contained stanozolol, and he was disqualified three days later. The Canadian media had a field day, devoting pages to the scandal in the following weeks. After serving a ban, he tested positive again. The Federal Sports Minister branded him ‘a national disgrace.’

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11. Tank Johnson

Johnson loves guns. In fact, he loves them a lot. The former Bears and Cowboys star has got in trouble because of his love of the Second Amendment. The defensive tackle was first arrested for having a gun in his vehicle. Then the court placed him on probation. But things got worse from there.

In short, he probably should have realized that you need to register a weapon if you’re on probation. So when the police raided his house and found six unregistered firearms, there was a bit of a problem. The NFL suspended him for the rest of the season. Meanwhile, the court sentenced him to 45 days in jail.

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10. Roy Keane

It’s not the longest ban on this list by any means, but it’s definitely one of the most controversial. Keane played soccer with passion and intensity. But he always lived on the edge. The former Manchester United captain developed a rivalry with Alf-Inge Haaland that would end badly for both men. Keane hated Haaland for mocking him after he suffered an injury.

Years later, Keane got his revenge. He flew into an ugly challenge with the Norwegian and shattered his leg. Naturally, the referee immediately sent him off. However, when the controversy reignited with the release of his autobiography. Keane admitted that he was out to hurt him and took pleasure from it. Incidentally, the Norway striker’s career never recovered.

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9. Nick Diaz

The elder of the Diaz brothers is a cult hero to MMA fans. He’s a former Strikeforce welterweight champion and one of the most popular fighters on the UFC roster today. However, he hasn’t fought since 2015 and may never step into a cage again.

Diaz failed a drug test after his fight against Brazilian legend Anderson Silva. Incredibly, the commission decided to make an example out of him and suspended him for a ridiculous five years. All because he smoked some herb. Meanwhile, Silva only got a one-year suspension despite testing positive for actual performance-enhancing drugs.

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8. Rene Higuita

Higuita is a crazy man, but we say that with love. You can’t deny that this man loves life. Just check out that gorgeous flowing mane of hair that he was obviously born with. The former Colombia goalkeeper is most famous for that incredible scorpion kick save against England. However, he also courted controversy off the pitch.

The keeper once found himself in jail after profiting from a kidnapping. That earned him half a year in jail. Then, in 2004, he tested positive for cocaine. His suspension lasted for almost a year. Life was never boring with this eccentric individual around. Despite his misdemeanors, he’s still a cult hero.

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7. Adrian Mutu

Some people never learn. Mutu was the most gifted Romanian soccer star of his generation. After playing brilliantly for Parma in Serie A, Chelsea brought him to Stamford Bridge. Things started well with four goals in his first two games. But it was all downhill from there. He’d only score six more for the Blues.

Mutu tested positive for cocaine in his second season. The FA banned him for seven months. Even worse was to come for the Romanian. Chelsea found him in breach of contract and sacked him. Then a lengthy legal battle kicked off. The court ordered him to pay £17 million in compensation. Years later the Italian FA banned him six months for doping.

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6. Luis Suarez

On his day – which was quite often – Luis Suarez is one of the most deadly strikers in soccer. The Uruguayan is a talisman for his country and has represented Barcelona with distinction over the past few seasons. However, he was arguably most idolized during his time on Merseyside, with Liverpool. He almost drove the Reds to the title, scoring goal after goal.

But his time at Anfield was not without controversy. The most notorious incident saw him banned for eight games. A confrontation with Manchester United’s Patrice Evra saw him charged with racism. However, his teammates made it worse by wearing horrific t-shirts supporting Suarez. In short, it was a terrible decision.

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5. Albert Haynesworth

Haynesworth has earned the unwanted accolade of the worst free-agent signing of all-time by the Washington Redskins. But he was capable of terrible moments long before then. As a Tennesse Titan, he committed a horrific foul that disgusted the sporting world.

In the season opener, Haynesworth decided to stomp on Andre Gurode’s head. Gurode wasn’t even wearing a helmet and would later require 30 stitches. The NFL banned him for five games. It was the longest ban for an on-field incident at the time (Vontaze Burfict later smashed the record). However, he was lucky that it wasn’t for even longer.

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4. Joey Barton

One of the most controversial figures on this list, Barton is constantly getting himself into trouble. Barton constantly lives on the edge and is prone to random bouts of violence. The soccer star has served time for assault but never seems to learn his lesson. The FA has charged Barton with violent conduct an astonishing three times.

Most notoriously, he attacked his former Manchester City teammate Ousmane during a training session. City sacked Barton, while the FA banned him. Even worse, he also had a suspended prison sentence hanging over him. Eventually, he came back but still got involved in crazy incidents. Now he’s managing Fleetwood Town in League Two.

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3. Vontaze Burfict

It’s rare that players get long bans in the NFL, but Burfict pushed his luck. The Oakland Raiders linebacker has a long history of violence on the playing field and NFL officials finally had enough of him. He joined the Raiders after seven seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, during which time he received 13 suspensions and fines.

Burfict is clearly a reckless player. Finally, the NFL banned him for the 2019 season after a helmet-to-helmet hit on the Indianapolis Colts’ Jack Doyle. In short, the NFL comes down hard these days on unnecessary violence. Football’s link to brain trauma is in focus, so they’re keen to make an example. Burfict found out the hard way.

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2. Diego Maradona

He’s one of the world’s greatest ever soccer players, but he’s also a disaster of a human being. Maradona is famous for the ‘Hand of God’ and winning the World Cup for Argentina. His playing skills and achievements have turned him into a living legend. But this diminutive genius also has a dark side.

Maradona developed a cocaine habit and admitted that he even used a fake penis to submit clean urine to drug testers. Finally, Maradona got his comeuppance. The Italian FA banned him for q5 months. Later, Maradona tested positive again. It was a shameful ending to a magnificent career.

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1. Lance Armstrong

Armstrong was on top of the world until suddenly he came crashing down to earth. Cycling has a reputation for being a dirty sport and a lot of it is to do with the Texan’s antics. After he recovered from near-fatal testicular cancer, Armstrong came back to win seven Tour de France titles. This attracted the suspicion of many of his rivals.

Finally, a whistleblower emerged and revealed the truth. Armstrong was the ringleader of the sport’s most sophisticated doping ring. This was a major scandal because he’s the most high-profile cyclist ever. The Texan was an inspiration to millions around the world but would be stripped of his titles in disgrace. He also landed a permanent ban.

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Star Athletes Who Were Banned From Their Sport

Star Athletes Who Were Banned From Their Sport

30. Maria Sharapova

29. Stanley Wilson

28. The Russian Paralympic Team

27. Marion Jones

26. Justin Gatlin

25. Michael Vick

24. Sun Yang

23. Rio Ferdinand

22. Pepe

21. Tyson Gay

20. Alberto Contador

19. Mark Bosnich

18. Dexter Manley

17. Shane Warne

16. Eric Cantona

15. Plaxico Burress

14. Kolo Toure

13. TJ Dillashaw

12. Ben Johnson

11. Tank Johnson

10. Roy Keane

9. Nick Diaz

8. Rene Higuita

7. Adrian Mutu

6. Luis Suarez

5. Albert Haynesworth

4. Joey Barton

3. Vontaze Burfict

2. Diego Maradona

1. Lance Armstrong

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