Olympic controversies

Controversy in badminton

With so many events going on and the stakes so high, the Olympic Games is always likely to produce the odd controversial sporting moment from time to time, and London did not fail to deliver in that respect.

Here we look at the main big controversies during London 2012.

Cycling

Philip Hindes admitted to deliberately crashing before propelling Great Britain to team pursuit glory but the IOC and International Cycling Union said the gold medal would stand. The 19-year-old's admission appeared to be naive but not a contravention of the rules. Hindes fell after making a wobbly start in qualifying before picking himself up to help Britain to two world record rides as Sir Chris Hoy and Jason Kenny successfully defended their title.

Badminton

The Olympic badminton competition was hit by a match-fixing scandal when eight players were kicked out for deliberately trying to lose.

Two Chinese players, four from South Korea and two from Indonesia all tried to fix their matches to manipulate the women's draw in front of angry fans. All four pairs had already qualified for the last eight and were trying to avoid

meeting the favourites.

Swimming

Rumblings over the remarkable performance of Chinese teenager Ye Shiwen changed to overt suspicion when a leading American coach described her world-record breaking race as "disturbing". John Leonard, the executive director of the World Swimming Coaches Association questioned how the 16-year-old (below), who took five seconds off her personal best and more than a second off the world record in the 400m individual medley. The IOC insisted there was no reason to question her performances.

Fencing

South Korean fencer Shin Lam thought she was through to the final of the women's epee when, to her horror and that of her coach Shim Jaesung, the clock was reset from zero to one second. When the action resumed German Britta Heidemann scored a do-or-die hit that gave her a place in the final against Ukraine's Yana Shemyakana. Shin broke down in tears and refused to leave the piste for two hours before eventually conceding defeat.