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6. Olympic badminton teams disqualified for throwing matches
An unidentified official talks to world doubles champions Yu Yang, left, and Wang Xiaoli, during their women's doubles badminton match against South Kora at the 2012 Summer Olympics, July 31, 2012, in London.
/ AP Photo/Saurabh DasThe words "badminton" and "scandal" don't generally go together but the 2012 London Games proved otherwise.
On August 1, four badminton teams were kicked out of the women's doubles at the Summer Olympics for trying to lose on purpose, conduct that a top IOC executive said strikes at the heart of Olympic competition.
Eight badminton players disqualified from Olympics
The eight doubles players from China, South Korea and Indonesia were cited by the Badminton World Federation for "conducting oneself in a manner that is clearly abusive or detrimental to the sport."
The players were loudly booed for their performance after it became clear they were deliberately trying to lose.
The reason for throwing the matches? Teams blamed the introduction of a round-robin system. Under such a format, it's much easier for results to be rigged to earn an easier matchup in the knockout round.
It appeared to be the first mass disqualification in Olympic history.
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