The most devious cheat in Olympic Games history? | Strangest Moments

You might not know it to look at him, but this man has been called the biggest cheat in the history of the Olympic Games. Boris Onischenko, or Boris Dis-Onischenko as he soon became known, earned his place in the Olympics Hall Of Shame for some innovative skulduggery in Montreal in 1976. Onischenko's event was the modern pentathlon, an all-round test of an athlete's skills. Pentathletes ride horses and run gruelling cross-country, they shoot pistols... ..they swim... ..and step up, epee in hand, onto the fencing piste. But Onischenko added a sixth discipline all of his own - electronic engineering. And this bright spark from the Soviet Union nearly rewired the entire integrity of the Olympics. Onischenko was a popular member of the USSR's Modern Pentathlon team. He was well liked and well respected in a close-knit group. He won the team gold in Munich in 1972 and the individual silver twice. Here he is on the podium in 1968, receiving a silver medal, behind the Hungarians. But maybe he thought his powers were on the wane. Away from prying eyes, Onischenko, or someone he knew, made a few modifications to the handle of his epee blade. All of a sudden, during a fencing contest against Britain's Adrian Parker, held at the Montreal University sports facility, Onischenko seemed to be a magician. Despite the Ukrainian's epee not quite touching the Briton's body, the electronic scoring mechanism recorded a hit. The British thought it was a malfunction, until it happened again in another match. Onischenko, a military man himself, then faced Jim Fox, a 36-year-old sergeant in the British Army, and the same thing happened again. Onischenko lunged at Fox. Fox skilfully leapt out of the way, but the scoreboard lit up to record a hit. The Brits smelled a rat... but Fox would not be conned. The Britons again complained and the officials investigated. They seized Onischenko's epee and found a most curious device in its handle. Beneath a layer of leather, there was a button leading to a wiring system. Press the button, and the sensors in the arena were told there'd been a hit. Onischenko had figured out a way to hit his opponents without touching them. Suffice to say, it was not in the rules. The punishment was immediate. Appeals fell on deaf ears. In disgrace, Onischenko was booted from the Games, reported to have stopped by his old rival Fox on the way out to say he was sorry. The British went on to take the gold medal. Back at the Olympic Village, the USSR volleyball team threatened to push Onischenko out of a window. They believed he'd brought shame on the entire nation. But some still say he was a victim himself of the win-at-all-costs Soviet regime. He went back to Kiev and was expelled from the Red Army. He got a personal dressing-down from the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and a 500-rouble fine. Reports say he was last seen driving a taxi in the Ukrainian capital. Stories of strange wires sticking out of the side of his meter, however, cannot be confirmed.

Channel: Olympics

Views: 1,188,833

Rating: 4.8348846 out of 5

Keywords: Olympic Games, Olympics, IOC, Sport, Champion, Strangest Moments, weird, wild, crazy, awesome, PLStrangeMoments, yt:cc=on, Boris Onischenko, Onischenko, المبارزة, 击剑, Escrime, Fechten, Scherma, フェンシング, 펜싱, Esgrima, Фехтование, fencing, cheat, cheating, deception, technics, secret button, secret, ukraine, montreal, 1976, jeremy fox, gbr, great britain, usr

Id: I6h9055PQRw

Length: 3min 47sec (227 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 21 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/Dubanx]

Most devious cheat?

This guy seems like he was really bad at cheating.... Like, it was super obvious cheating.

[u/Monoskimouse]

So, bigger than when a gal from Puerto Rico had her twin take her place mid-olympics?

Or, even in the same sort of event (Fencing) when a team kept sending out their best fencer in a team event (because the mask hid his face)

OR, when Germany had a dude pose as a woman for the entire 1936 Olympics ?

[u/mordecai98]

Mirror?