10 Athletes Banned for Life and Their Stories

by Will Brown, August 06, 2025

While on-field infractions and doping scandals are often met with harsh penalties, it is extremely rare for athletes to be placed with lifetime bans from their sports. For that reason, when athletes banned for life are dealt these career-ending punishments, it’s often a just consequence of sinister conspiracies. In this guide, we’ve shared 10 stories of banned athletes, from Lance Armstrong’s fall from grace to the scandal surrounding Russian athletes at the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Who Are the Sportsmen with Lifetime Bans?

From baseball’s Pete Rose to Olympic figure skater Tonya Harding, the story of an athlete banned from their sport often becomes a huge news story across the world of sports. However, behind these scandals, there are usually teams of co-conspirators in the shadows, raising questions about how fair these punishments can be.

Whether they’re Olympic athletes at the top of their game or major professional league stars, no one is immune to the harshest penalty in sports. To get this guide started, we’ve outlined the common reasons for lifetime bans before diving into our list of 10 famous athletes who’ve had their careers ended for unforgivable transgressions.

• Why Are Athletes Banned?
• Shoeless Joe Jackson – Baseball
• Pete Rose – Baseball
• Tonya Harding – Figure Skating
• Lance Armstrong – Cycling
• Ben Johnson – Olympic Sprinter
• Hansie Cronje – Cricket
• Rosie Ruiz – Marathon
• Marion Jones – Olympic Track and Field
• 2014 Russian Olympic Athletes
• Billy Coutu – Hockey

Another Athlete Banned: Why Are Sports Stars Banned?

There are several reasons why an athlete may be banned for life, all of which revolve around the breaking of sports’ strict moral codes. Often, these punishments are handed out after athletes were caught reoffending on doping charges, while infractions such as throwing games for financial gain tend to be punished severely and immediately.

Many of the banned-for-life sportsmen and women on this list were involved in highly organized schemes to gain a competitive edge or financial benefits. As this goes against the sporting ethos of fairness, integrity, respect, inspirational behavior, and excellence, those who are caught can quickly be declared irredeemable in the eyes of regulators. The following are some of the most famous examples.

Shoeless Joe Jackson – Baseball

One of the earliest athletes in the modern era to have a lifetime ban in sports, Shoeless Joe Jackson was once one of baseball’s greatest batters. A star player for the Chicago White Sox, Jackson boasted a career batting average of .356, with his final 1919 series producing an average of .375.

However, his legacy would take a hit after he, along with seven other teammates, were embroiled in the “Black Sox” scandal, when they were accused of conspiring to throw the World Series for a gambling racket. While Jackson was acquitted in court and claimed to be innocent, the MLB Commissioner banned the players for life in 1921.

Pete Rose – Baseball

Long before the days of legal online sports betting sites, sports gambling was a contentious issues for sports leagues. Like Shoeless Joe, 17-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion baseball player Pete Rose saw his career come to an end in 1989 after a league investigation found evidence that he’d bet on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds.

Although he denied the accusations at first, evidence proved that he’d place bets on his own team. To avoid a formal hearing, Rose accepted a lifetime ban. Holding the record for all-time career hits with 4,256, his long-time exclusion from the Hall of Fame was controversial. However, after his death in 2024, he is now eligible to be granted the honor.

Tonya Harding – Figure Skating

Few athletes banned for life have as dramatic a story as Tonya Harding. In the early 1990s, Harding became the first U.S. woman to land a triple axel in a figure skating competition. On track to dominate in the 1994 Olympics, her career imploded after she was found to be involved in an attack on US rival Nancy Kerrigan.

The attack, which saw Kerrigan struck on the leg with a baton, was ordered by Harding’s ex-husband to give Harding a competitive edge. Harding was found to be knowledgeable of the assault plans beforehand and actively hindered the investigation, resulting in a lifetime ban by the US Figure Skating Association.

Lance Armstrong – Cycling

From the late 1990s to the late 2000s, Lance Armstrong was the biggest name in cycling. Winning seven consecutive Tour de France titles from 1999 to 2005 after surviving cancer, Armstrong’s story was one of resilience and inspiration. However, in 2012, the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) published a report detailing systematic doping throughout his career.

The backlash was swift and brutal. His teammates turned against him for spearheading the conspiracy, his sponsors dumped him, and his charity, Livestrong, cut ties. Armstrong’s titles were stripped, and he was handed a lifetime ban from cycling. The most famous of sportsmen with lifetime bans, his fall from grace remains a cautionary tale.

Ben Johnson – Olympic Sprinter

Yet another athlete banned for doping was Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson. Johnson first came to prominence after breaking the 100-meter world record at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, winning gold in 9.79 seconds. However, days later, a positive test result for the anabolic steroid stanozolol saw him stripped of his medal and record.

After a two-year ban, Johnson returned to competition in 1991. However, after another positive doping result in 1993, he was handed a lifetime ban. Later, Johnson admitted that he had doped since 1981, and stated that most of his peers were doing it. The aftermath resulted in stricter testing procedures in athletics.

Hansie Cronje – Cricket

During the late 1990s, South African cricketer Hansie Cronje was a deeply respected team captain. Under his leadership, the team became a competitive force in the sport, and he was considered to be a role model for young cricketers. However, a 2000 investigation by Indian police found evidence that Cronje was conspiring with bookmakers to fix matches.

After initially denying the claims, Cronje later admitted to accepting money and gifts for underperforming or influencing match outcomes. In response, he was handed a lifetime ban by South Africa’s cricket regulator. He later died in a plane crash in 2002, preventing him from making amends for his tarnished legacy.

Rosie Ruiz – Marathon

In a scandal that would almost be hilarious if it weren’t so deceptive, Rosie Ruiz earned infamy for her cheating in the Boston Marathon in 1980. Initially, Ruize appeared to win the race with a time of 2:31:56 and showed little exertion, which was at that time the third-fastest for a woman. However, when competitors claimed they didn’t see her along the race, suspicions arose.

Later, witnesses revealed that they saw her enter the race just before the finish line, bypassing a majority of the course. She had previously done the same in the New York Marathon to qualify. In response, she was stripped of the title and banned from future marathons.

Marion Jones – Olympic Track and Field

Joining the ranks of Olympic athletes banned for life for illegal substance use, Marion Jones was once considered a beloved role model for her athletic prowess. The American track and field star had won five medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, a record that stood until 2007 when she admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs.

Because she’d previously lied while denying the allegations under oath, she received a prison sentence for perjury and a separate check-fraud charge. She was also stripped of all medals and received a lifetime ban from the sport. She later found a brief career in professional basketball before moving away from public life in 2008.

2014 Russian Olympic Athletes

For a brief moment, the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics were a source of national pride for Russia, with the nation leading the global medal tally. However, after whistleblower Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov unveiled a vast conspiracy that saw Russian authorities tamper with urine samples of its athletes, the house of cards collapsed.

The World Anti-Doping Agency and the IOC identified 40 Russian athletes whose samples were manipulated to hide their doping, and they were later handed lifetime bans from the Olympics. Russia was also excluded from subsequent Games, with its athletes forced to compete under neutral flags. The scandal was later covered in the Oscar-winning Netflix documentary “Icarus”.

Billy Coutu – Hockey

With no other sportsmen with lifetime bans in the NHL, Billy Coutu’s misdeeds stand out as an anomaly in the league. In 1927, Montreal Canadiens player Coutu had a reputation for his rough play. However, during the Stanley Cup Finals of that year, his career ended after an attack against referee Jerry Laflamme.

The post-game assault incited a brawl that also resulted in a league official being injured. The NHL’s president cited Coutu’s repeated violent behavior in his lifetime ban ruling, and while he was granted entry again in 1929, he never played again.