19 Times Medalists Were Kicked Out Of The Olympics For A Variety Of Reasons

Dr. Perry explained to Bored Panda that athletes learn a number of techniques to keep their stress from having an impact on their performance. Two of these are colorful breathing and getting task focused.

"Many will use breathing techniques which help them slow down the physiological responses to their threat system being triggered," the sport psychologist told Bored Panda. "One I really like using is colorful breathing where we pick our two favorite colors and as we breathe in through our nose for 4 counts we imagine breathing in one of those colors and then we breathe out the other color through our mouth for 6 counts. It stops our brain overthinking and slows our breathing down to only 5-6 breaths a minute."

Meanwhile, athletes also do their best to focus only on the tasks that are immediately in front of them. That way, there's "no headspace left to focus on outcomes." Focusing on our performance instead of the end result is liberating. This way, their performance actually improves.

"This feels counter-intuitive but the less we focus on winning, and the more we focus on performing exceptionally well, the better our results tend to be as it means our threat system is less likely to get triggered," Dr. Perry said.

Bored Panda also wanted to find out the importance of an athlete's mindset, determination, and drive when it comes to their physical performance. Dr. Perry noted that she feels that mindset is "incredibly important when it comes to sporting performance," as any sport psychologist would.

"Often, athletes tell me they would do far better if they could just switch off their brain and compete as their body would do what it needs to without the unhelpful interference in their heads," the sport expert shared with Bored Panda how some of her clients feel.

"Having worked with many professional athletes though I would say that they don’t need more determination or drive—they usually have that naturally in bucketloads—often they need holding back a little so they can look after themselves, their mental health and bring other things into their lives so they are not so completely consumed by their sport," she said that professional athletes need to learn to slow down and balance out their passion for their sport.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games haven’t been without their fair share of drama, either. For instance, US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson missed the Olympics because she tested positive for marijuana use.

Sprinter Sha’Carri, from Texas, is considered to be the sixth-fastest woman in history. The BBC notes that her best-ever time for the 100-meter sprint was done in a lightning-fast 10.72 seconds. 

However, the sprinter tested positive for cannabis during a qualifying race and, in early July, it was announced that she wouldn’t represent the US at the Games. This decision has reignited the debate about marijuana use by professional athletes.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has banned marijuana since launching its list of prohibited substances back in 2004. Substances get banned if they meet two out of three criteria, i.e. the substance harms the athlete’s health, the substance is considered to be performance-enhancing, and the substance goes against the spirit of the sport.

In 2019, WADA removed cannabidiol, aka CBD, a component of cannabis, from its list of banned substances which has, in turn, fuelled criticism for banning Sha’Carri from the Olympics.

Meanwhile, a number of pro athletes have had to drop out of the Tokyo 2020 games after testing positive for Covid-19. Forbes has the full list so far, but among them are American pole vault champion Sam Kendricks, Argentinian pole vaulter German Chiaraviglio, Dutch tennis players Jean-Julien Rojer and Wesley Koolhof, and German cyclist Simon Geschke.

Cyclist Geschke, who is fully vaccinated and displayed no symptoms, criticized the “basic” food provided by the organizers of the Olympics for vegans.

However, Italian rower Bruno Rosetti, who tested positive for Covid-19, actually managed to win a bronze medal even though he missed the final race. This is because of a change in rules that now mean an athlete can still win a medal if they take part in the preliminaries but not the final.

Covid regulations in Tokyo mean that athletes can’t do whatever they want. For instance, judo silver medallists from Georgia, Vazha Margvelashvili and Lasha Shavdatuashvili, were thrown out of the Tokyo Olympics because they went sightseeing.

Their spokesperson said that “no one stopped them at the exit, so they thought that they could go outside.” They told AFP: “They wanted just to have a bit of open air, to relax after a tough day of competition, after a tough lockdown period.”

Let us know what you think of these situations from the current and previous Olympic Games, dear Pandas. Which reasons do you think make it alright for an athlete to lose their medal? Which ones do you think are beyond ridiculous and which ones sound completely fair? Let us know in the comments.