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Sport's most notorious rulebreakers

  • Story Highlights
  • English rugby coach Dean Richards banned for role in "bloodgate"
  • Coach asked player to use fake blood to feign injury in order to be replaced
  • Richards is not the first sports person to break the rules in order to win
  • Sound Off: Do you agree with CNN's list of sport's most notorious rulebreakers?
By George Webster and Ben Wyatt
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(CNN) -- English rugby coach Dean Richards has been banned from coaching for three years for his part in masterminding a fake blood injury to one of his players.

Dean Richards

English rugby coach Dean Richards admitted asking his player to fake an injury using artificial blood.

In a scandal dubbed "bloodgate" the 46-year-old admitted to getting one of his players to use fake blood to feign injury in order to make an otherwise impossible substitution happen at a crucial time in a European Cup quarterfinal between his side Harlequins and Leinster.

Sport is littered with competitive personalities, but some are prepared to go further than others in order to achieve victory. Do you agree with CNN's list of sport's top ten notorious rulebreakers?

1. Diego Maradona, football - For years Maradona shared the credit for his most remembered goal with a higher being. "A little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God" was his account of how he scored the opener in Argentina's 2-1 victory over England during the 1986 World Cup semi-final. However, in 2005 Maradona admitted that it was less divine intervention than retribution that was behind the now infamous goal. Referring to the British control of the Falkland Islands which lie just off Argentina and were the scene of a bitter war in 1982, he said: "I don't for a second regret scoring that goal with my hand.. whoever robs a thief gets a 100-year pardon."

2. Rosie Ruiz, the marathon - After taking gold-medal in the 1980 Boston Marathon and setting the third-fastest time ever recorded for a female runner in the process, many spectators noticed how remarkably sweat-free and relaxed the 23-year old Ruiz appeared as she took to the winner's podium. Race officials were also dismayed by the jubilant victor's absence from the numerous photographs taken during the competition, and none of the checkpoint monitors or fellow runners were able to recognize the young champion after the 26-mile race had ended. It was not long before a few members of the crowd came forward to reveal that they had seen Ruiz simply jump in during the last half-mile, where she duly sprinted to the finish line.

3. Carlos "Panama" Lewis, boxing - In the early 1980s "Panama" was regarded as one of the most formidable boxing trainers of his time. These days he is typically regarded as one of the sports murkiest operatives. Panama's lowly stature was secured during the 1983 fight between his boxer Lewis Resto and Billy Collins Jr. Before the fight Panama had soaked Resto's hands in plaster of Paris and removed the padding from his gloves. Resto punched Collins Jr to a pulp and, nine months later, Collins Jr - suffering from depression caused by the fight - died in a car accident that many believe was suicide.

Diego Maradona

Diego Maradona scores against England for Argentina using what he called the "hand of God."

4. Spain's 2000 Paralympic team, basketball - The 2000 Sydney Paralympics witnessed the basketball team from Spain take the gold medal in the "intellectual disability" category. However, soon after Carlos Ribagorda, an undercover journalist, revealed that the players on Spain's team had not actually undergone the testing required to prove mental deficiency. It turned out that ten of the twelve players on the Spain basketball team had no such disability. The International Paralympic Committee subsequently decided to scrap the category due to the difficulties of assessing the disabilities of performers.

5. Michel Pollentier, cycling - In 1978 the Belgian rider was ahead of the rest of the field after the mountain stage of the Tour de France. He submitted a urine sample which came back clean from drugs, the only problem was it wasn't his urine! It transpired that Pollentier had used a sample given to him by his teammate that was delivered via a plastic pipe concealed in his shorts, he was subsequently thrown from the Tour.

6. Dwain Chambers, athletics - The British sprinter had high hopes of taking on the world's elite after showing early potential but his career was derailed when he tested positive for the banned substance THG in 2003. Slapped with a two-year suspension and lifetime ban from the British Olympic Association (BOA) Chambers later revealed he was taking a cocktail of seven different drugs.

7. Boris Onishchenko, fencing - As a fencer for the Soviet Union, Boris Onishchenko performed unbelievably for his nation's modern pentathlon team at the 1976 Olympics. And there was good reason as the British team, who complained to the organizers, suspected. It turns out the wily athlete used an illegal switch to trigger the system that registered a hit from his foil on his opponents, which guaranteed him victory. The illegal switch on his grip was discovered resulting in his disqualification from the Games.

Dwain Chambers

The British sprinter Dwain Chambers admitted to taking a cocktail of seven different drugs while competing.

8. Dora Ratjen, high jump - In the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin, Adolf Hitler was determined to prove his philosophy about the Aryan race -- that meant winning at any cost. Ratjen, who was known for her low voice and reluctance to share the shower room with the other female athletes, was the German entry for the women's high jump. After setting a new world record, Britain's Dorothy Tyler, the former holder, suggested to officials that Ratjen was a man. After some research Ratjen was found serving as a waiter called Hermann. Dora, born Hermann Ratjen, had in fact been a member of the Hitler Youth and said that the Nazis had made him participate as a woman.

9. Fred Lorz, the marathon - In the burning heat of the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis, only 14 of the 32 starting marathon runners made the finish line. All the more credit then to Fred Lorz, the New Yorker who burst through the white tape after three hours and 13 minutes, to be announced the winner. Having bagged a photograph with the Alice Roosevelt, daughter of the President of the United States, Lorz was on his way to collect an apparently well-deserved gold medal. However, word soon spread that the American had spent nearly half the marathon sitting down...in a car. Despite claiming it was just a practical joke, Lorz received a lifetime ban.

10. Ben Johnson, 100 meters - Having taken gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and slicing four-hundredths of a second off the world record, Canada's 100m sprint champion took to the mic: "I'd like to say my name is Benjamin Sinclair Johnson Jnr and this world record will last 50 years, maybe 100." Only hours after the race had ended, a urine sample belonging to the sprinter was found to contain the anabolic steroid stanozolal resulting in the time being scrapped from the record books. Johnson protested his innocence but, after a two-year suspension, he was banned in 1993 for testing positive again - and this time it was for life.

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