Guardian's Anti-Sports Personality of the Year 2025 Highlights Multiple Cheating Scandals Across Sports
The Guardian's Anti-Sports Personality of the Year 2025 spotlighted numerous cheating scandals spanning various sports, offering a stark contrast to the traditional BBC ceremony.
In the realm of Go, 19-year-old prodigy Qin Siyue was stripped of her ranking and banned for eight years after using AI and a hidden phone to plan moves during the Chinese Team Championship. Meanwhile, at the Baduk world championship final, Byun Sang-il defeated Ke Jie following a mid-tournament change to scoring rules, an experience Ke Jie described as psychologically traumatic.
A scandal rocked Norwegian large-hill ski jumping when five athletes and three team officials were found using reinforced thread in their ski suits to enhance aerodynamics. Coach Magnus Brevig admitted to the cheating, and former jumpers Daniel‑André Tande and Remen Evensen acknowledged previous involvement in cheating.
In an unrelated incident, Juan Bernabe, the trainer of Lazio's eagle mascot, was dismissed in January after posting boastful photos of his anatomy following penile prosthesis surgery.
The World Pool Championship in Jeddah faced controversy dubbed 'Waxgate,' over cue-ball waxing accusations when Aloysius Yapp accused an opponent of using wax. The WPA declared waxing balls as cheating and stated it would handle incidents according to its rules.
The World stone skimming championship introduced security measures including scans and magnets on the 'ringmaster' to deter tampering. Kyle Mathews disqualified several competitors for stone doctoring or notching.
Controversy also arose at the Moose Jaw Curling event where the Chinese team was accused of cheating by burning a rock and kicking a stone to alter its path. Norway officially protested, but China denied the allegations. China subsequently lost to Switzerland in the semi-finals and to Canada in the bronze match. Commentator George Karrys described the episode as a nightmare.
In Tiddlywinks, the English association began strict checks on squidger widths ahead of national pairs tournaments due to suspicions that the 51mm rule might be breached; umpires are monitoring squidger sizes closely.
Finally, biting and disciplinary issues extended to rugby and football; Axelle Berthoumieu of France was banned for 12 matches for biting Aoife Wafer, later reduced to nine on appeal. Eben Etzebeth received a 12-match ban for eye gouging Wales’s Alex Mann, and Luis Suárez was banned three matches for spitting at a Seattle security director during the aLeague.
