LONDON (AP) – From Ben Johnson to Marion Jones to Lance Armstrong, the sports world has its own doping hall of shame.
Cheating in the Olympics, world championships, Tour de France, Major League Baseball and other sports has led to a stunning fall from grace for some of the world’s biggest stars and disgrace for some of the most powerful nations.
A devastating report issued Monday by a World Anti-Doping Agency panel exposed a deep-seated culture of drug use and state-supported doping in Russia, findings which could lead the country’s track and field team to be suspended from international competition, including next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
The 323-page WADA report is the most comprehensive accounting of widespread doping, but there have been plenty of high-profile drug cases over the years that have damaged the credibility of sport and left fans wondering if what they are seeing is real or a chemically-enhanced lie.
Here are just some of the major doping scandals in sports: