We are constantly besieged by stories of sporting ne’er-do-wells, of dopers, match-fixers, law-breakers and attention-seekers. None of that nonsense earns a place on this list, for which there is nothing so formal as qualifying criteria but a bit of either consistency or originality is expected. The end of the year is a time to look back over the past 12 months, to shine an Olympic-sized torch into a few of sport’s darker corners and see what dismal doings come to light. While some of our miscreants have inspired huge controversy, others have slipped under the rage radar; this list of wrongs is the place to put that right.
Mostafa Asal
This has been a classic year for the man they call, worryingly, Raging Bull, who at 20 reached the top of the world squash rankings for the first time. He couldn’t stay there, thanks in part to spending 18 weeks of the year suspended. The Egyptian was banned for six weeks in March and another dozen in August, both for dangerous play – he accused his opponents of diving – leading his father, Mahmoud, to allege a conspiracy “trying in every way to destroy the future of my son and prevent him from reaching the top”. (Mahmoud was banned from all Professional Squash Association events between January and November for his part in a violent courtside confrontation.) In January his semi-final opponent at the Houston Open, Marwan El Shorbagy, was carried off on a stretcher and then to hospital after an “accidental” clash, which looked to many observers like an elbow in the privates. “If this is the future of our sport then good luck,” said El Shorbagy. There has been a long-running feud with France’s Victor Crouin, the world No 11, who said the Egyptian shows “very poor sportsmanship and a lack of maturity” and “the need to create controversy on and off court”. But there’s hope for the future – this month Asal apologised for his antics. “I’m happy I’m changing for the good,” he said. We’ll see about that.
Aram Nikolyan
In April, the European Weightlifting Championships took place in Armenia, where the competing teams included neighbouring Azerbaijan. Thanks to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict relations between the two states are subarctic, but perhaps sport could be the great healer? When it came to repairing the cracked connection between these nations, could weightlifting do the, er, heavy lifting? We got the answer to that in the opening ceremony when a local fashion designer, working for the host broadcaster, snuck on to the stage, grabbed an Azerbaijani flag and set fire to it. “My only desire was to ensure that the flag of Azerbaijan does not fly in Yerevan,” he said. Nikolyan was arrested but swiftly released and the Azeri team withdrew from the tournament the following morning. Their ministry of sport raged that the “barbaric act” was “in complete contradiction with the noble goals and principles of sport, which promotes peace and mutual understanding between nations”, and their prosecutor general put out an international arrest warrant for Nikolyan. Armenia’s subsequent bid to host the 2024 world championships was unsuccessful.
Luis Rubiales and Faruk Koca
The year’s great footballing miscreants and neither of them footballers. The former Spain FA chief makes the list for a kiss, the owner of the Turkish side Ankaragucu for a punch – the acts couldn’t be more different, but as a matter of policy it is best to get permission before attempting either.
Joasia Zakrzewski
It’s the classic long-distance-runner-gets-a-lift story, a tale as old as long-distance running. In the 1896 Olympic marathon Spyridon Belokas came third but was disqualified for travelling part of the course by carriage and it was in his footsteps that Zakrzewski travelled during the Manchester to Liverpool 50-mile race in April. She also finished third, collected her trophy and medal, and that would have been the end of the story had she not uploaded her race data on Strava, where users noticed that for 2.5 miles she went at improbable speeds, covering one mile in 100 seconds. Zakrzewski, who has a long and impressive record in distance running, said her judgment was clouded by jet lag, having just arrived in the country from Australia. “I was feeling unwell and spaced out and not thinking clearly,” she said. In other vehicle/athlete-interface news the Mexico City Marathon descended into farce after about 11,000 of the 30,000 participants were disqualified for using cars, bikes and public transport to skip sections of the course. This year set a new standard for the scandal-blighted event, which disqualified 5,806 runners in 2017 and 3,090 in 2018.
Nasra Abukar Ali
This is a messy one, a tangled web of favours and families. If there is one lesson to take from it let it be this: do not start your athletics career in the 100m competition at a major, televised event. Not under any circumstances. Not even if nobody else from your country wants the place. “In Somalia many women are scared of taking part in sporting activities,” Ali said. “When the 100m race failed to attract female participants, I volunteered to represent my country.” And off to the World University Games she went, where she ran the 100m in 21.81sec, nearly 10sec behind the winner of her heat (22 women have run the 200m faster). As footage of her plodding performance went viral the head of Somalia’s athletics agency, Khadija Adan Dahir – or as Ali calls her, auntie – was sacked for “causing the country widespread embarrassment”. Most unfortunately, given that this was an event for students, Ali seems not to have learned her lesson: she says she stands ready “to represent my country when called upon in the future”.
