Countries With The Most Stripped Olympic Medals
Controversy is an unavoidable part of the Olympics. One of the most controversial aspects is when medals are stripped from athletes. This almost always happens after the games have ended, but it does happen surprisingly often. The country that has had the most medals stripped is Russia, with 46, followed by Ukraine and Belarus, with 11.
The Countries With the Most Stipped Olympic Medals
| Rank | Country | Number Of Stripped Medals |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russia | 46 |
| 2 | Ukraine | 11 |
| 3 | Belarus | 11 |
| 4 | United States | 10 |
| 5 | Bulgaria | 7 |
| 6 | Turkey | 5 |
| 7 | China | 4 |
| 8 | Spain | 4 |
| 9 | Hungary | 4 |
| 10 | Uzbekistan | 4 |
1. Russia - 46 Medals Stripped
Russia and the Soviet Union are now infamous for various cheating scandals at the international level. The first Russian/Soviet athlete to ever be stripped was the female skier Galina Kulakova. At the 1976 Winter Olympics, she won a bronze medal in the 5km cross-country event but was later stripped after she tested positive for ephedrine.
Kulakova claimed that ephedrine had entered her system accidentally through the use of a nasal spray, but the Olympics committee was not swayed. Another more recent incident took place in the 2012 Summer Olympics when 22 separate Russian athletes were all stripped of their medals for the use of banned substances.
2. Ukraine - 11 Medals Stripped
Ukraine has had its fair share of stripped athletes as well. The first Ukrainian athlete to lose their medal was Olena Olefirenko, a member of their women's rowing team. After she tested positive for ethamivan, she and the rest of her team were stripped of their bronze medals.
Similar to Russia, Ukraine lost a handful of medals in the 2012 London Games after it was discovered that two weightlifters and a javelin thrower were using banned substances. Once the dust settled, Ukraine was dispossessed of two gold medals and a bronze.
3. Belarus - 11 Medals Stripped
Keeping in line with its neighbors, Belarus has also been at the center of cheating controversies despite being such a relatively young country. The 2008 Olympics in Beijing ended in disaster for their Olympic team after six different athletes were stripped of their medals.
In 2008 alone, Belarus lost one gold, two silver, and three bronze medals. A similar situation played out in 2004, when Belarus lost a silver and bronze medal after it was proven that Ivan Tsikhan, a participant in the men's hammer throw, and Iryna Yatchenko, a female track and field star, were doping.
4. United States - 10 Medals Stripped
The United States was the first country in the modern Olympics to have an athlete stripped of a medal. Frank Joseph Floyd, who fought under the name Jack Egan, won a bronze and silver medal in boxing in two different weight classes at the 1904 Summer Games.
Floyd was not stripped of his medals due to the use of steroids or banned substances but for fighting under an assumed name. As a result, he lost both of his medals. The most recent American athlete to be stripped was track and field star Tyson Gay, whose 2012 Olympic silver medal was removed after failing a drug test in 2013.
5. Bulgaria - 7 Medals Stripped
Bulgaria had its first medals taken away after the 1976 Summer Games when both weightlifters Valentin Khristov and Blagoy Blagoev tested positive for steroids. This lost Bulgaria both the gold and silver medals in the category.
An almost identical story played out in the 1988 Summer Games after Bulgaria was dispossessed of two more gold medals in two weightlifting events. The last Bulgarian athletes to lose their medals took place in the 2000 Summer Games after three competitors failed drug tests, all of which were in weightlifting.
6. Turkey - 5 Medals Stripped
Turkey's 2008 Summer Games were mired in controversy after two of its athletes were stripped of their medals. Elvan Abeylegesse, a long-distance runner, had her two silver medals in the women's 5000-meter and 10000-meter races taken away after testing positive for a banned substance in 2017.
In 2012, two other Turkish runners, Asli Cakir Alptekin and Gamze Bulut, were later found out to be doping. This resulted in Turkey losing both the gold and silver medals in the women's 1500-meter race.
7. China - 4 Medals Stripped
China's first doping controversy occurred in 2000 when the entire women's gymnastic team was stripped of its bronze medals after it was discovered that Dong Fangxiao, one of its starting members, was competing underage.
It was later found that Fangxiao participated in the 2000 Olympic Games at only 14 years old. This was two years under the event's age limit. In 2008, three other Chinese athletes lost their gold medals, all of which were won in weightlifting.
8. Spain - 4 Medals Stripped
Spain has a relatively clean record in the Olympics. The first Spanish athlete to be stripped of a medal was Jaime Huélamo, a Spanish cyclist, who had his bronze medal taken away after failing a drug test nearly 50 years ago during the 1976 Olympic Summer Games.
The other three medals that Spanish athletes had to surrender all came from a single cross-country skier named Johann Mühlegg. Mühlegg had won three gold medals during the 2002 Winter Games in three separate categories but had all of them overturned after he was caught doping.
9. Hungary - 4 Medals Stripped
Hungary was forced to give up a silver medal in the 1988 Summer Games once it was later found out that Andor Szanyi, a weightlifter, was using performance-enhancing drugs. He was the second Hungarian weightlifter to be disqualified from the 1988 games, but Kalman Csengeri, the other weightlifter, did not win a medal despite injecting extra testosterone.
A similar situation unfolded in the 2004 Summer Games after three other Hungarian athletes were stripped for doping. In total, Hungary was forced to surrender two gold medals in weightlifting and the hammer throw event, along with a silver medal in men's discus.
10. Uzbekistan - 4 Medals Stripped
Uzbekistan has had four separate instances of athletes being stripped of their medals. In 2008, the wrestlers Artur Taymazov and Soslan Tigiev lost their gold and silver medals in freestyle wrestling after failing a drug test.
In 2012, the same two wrestlers, Taymazov and Tigiev, were once again stripped of a gold and bronze medal for doping. In 2016, both wrestlers were found to be cheating.
Final Thoughts
Cheating in sports, especially the Olympics, has become one of the dark sides of the games in recent years. As drug testing technology has become more accurate and thorough, it is now harder than ever to use performance-enhancing drugs. This has also resulted in many medals being stripped from athletes years after they were initially awarded their medals.
