Top 10 Athletes Whose Careers Ended in Disgrace

10. Diego Maradona

Arguably the best player of the 20th century, but it’s always has been marred with drugs usage, that's why some will always go with Pele has the best player ever.
 Diego is the only player in football history to set the world record transfer fee twice, first when he transferred to Barcelona for a then world record £5m, and second, when he transferred to Napoli for another record fee £6.9m From the mid-1980s until 2004 Diego Maradona was addicted to cocaine. He allegedly began using the drug in Barcelona in 1983. By the time he was playing for Napoli he had a regular addiction, which began to interfere with his ability to play football. Over the years following his retirement his health seriously deteriorated. On 4 January 2000, while vacationing in Punta del Este, Uruguay, Maradona had to be rushed to the emergency room of a local clinic. In a press conference, doctors stated that it was detected heart muscle damage due to "an underlying health issue". It was later known that traces of cocaine were found in his blood and Maradona had to explain the circumstances to the police. After this he left Argentina and went to Cuba in order to follow a drug rehab plan. On 18 April 2004, doctors reported that Maradona had suffered a major myocardial infarction following a cocaine overdose; he wasadmitted to intensive care in a Buenos Aires hospital. Scores of fans gathered around the clinic. He was taken off the respirator on 23April and remained in intensive care for several days before being discharged on 29 April. He tried to return to Cuba, where he had spent most of his time in the years leading up to the heart attack, but his family opposed, having filed a judicial petition to exercise his legal guardianship.

9.  Ben Johnson

For three days in 1988, Johnson was on top of the world. Amid a fantastic slate of runners, he won the gold medal for the 100 meter dash and set a new world record in the process. He was hailed as a hero in his native Canada and seemed ready to cash in on numerous endorsements. But then came the word that he had tested positive for steroids and Johnson admitted to having used them for several years. Stripped of his medals and records, Johnson was suspended, attempting a comeback in 1993, only to be busted afterward for doping again. This time, he was banned for life by the IAFF and still claims now and then that he was set up for the drug use while claiming many athletes today do it.

8. Zinedine Zidane

One moment was all it took. One moment for the man regarded as one of the most acclaimed, professional and respected soccer players on the planet to tarnish his entire legacy. Zidane had amassed an amazing record for France as both national and professional player with numerous records and fantastic to watch play. He had already announced plans to retire after the 2006 World Cup and most saw his work there as a fitting capper to a Hall of Fame career. But then, in the 110 minute of the final, Zidane got into an argument with Italy’s Marco Materazzi, the two snapping and yelling before Zidane snapped his head forward onto Materazzi’s chest. He was immediately thrown out of the game and Zidane’s glittering career is overshadowed by his stunning action as French newspapers lambasted him and despite cheering of fans, his retirement was not the grand celebration most had hoped for.

7. Mike Tyson

“Iron” Mike Tyson was a dominant boxer who could end a fight in an instant during his prime. He also had his boxing career twice come to a halt in disgrace. Tyson spent time in prison in the 1990s after he was found guilty on rape charges, and the former “Baddest Man on the Planet” had to call time on his career in 2005 after he had embarrassed himself inside of the ring on multiple occasions.

6. Oscar Pistorius

Known as the “Blade Runner” because of the blades that he wore during competitions, Oscar Pistorius was an admirable figure who became a world-famous athlete despite the fact that he portions of both of his legs amputated before he was one-year-old. Pistorius’s career ended in 2013 when he shot and killed girlfriend and model Reeva Steencamp inside of his home, an incident that shocked and rocked the sports world. The track athlete claimed that he mistook her for an intruder, but Pistorius was nevertheless found guilty of culpable homicide.

5. Marion Jones

A world champion and one of the top Olympic champions of her time, Marion Jones will not be remembered for the records that she set or the awards that she won. Jones will instead always be labeled a cheat who took performance enhancing drugs and who disgraced herself in multiple ways. Along with being stripped of gold medals, Jones spent time behind bars due to her involvement in a check fraud case. Some athletes get so used to getting around the rules that they believe they can do so in legal matters, as well, but Jones learned valuable life lessons the hard way.

4. Chris Benoit

The great tragedy in the downfall of Chris Benoit is that it included the murders of his wife, his child and the suicide of the professional wrestler. Whatever was going through the mind of Benoit when he removed himself from a World Wrestling Entertainment tour to return home and commit those horrifying acts is anybody’s guess, and it is likely that he was mentally and psychologically a shell of his former self on that fateful weekend. Benoit will always be remembered for those deaths, and his career inside of the ring has largely become an afterthought.

3. Lance Armstrong

The career and public life of Lance Armstrong has been a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs, and both have been lost to disgrace. Armstrong became a US sports hero after defeating cancer and dominating the cycling world en route to winning seven consecutive Tour de France titles, but he was stripped of those championships and hit with a lifetime ban following a long doping investigation. Not only is Armstrong perceived to be a cheater. He is also, upon reading up on allegations made against him, seemingly a thoroughly unlikeable person who truly earned his fall from grace.

2. O.J. Simpson

O.J. Simpson was a beloved football star who had successful careers as an actor and as a television analyst. Both of those careers ended in disgrace when he was accused of killing his ex-wife and her companion. While Simpson was found not guilty in the court of law, it is widely believed among many who followed the so-called “Trial of the Century” that Simpson, who was later found liable for those slayings in a civil suit, committed the killings. The former running back is currently behind bars after he was found guilty for taking part in a robbery

1. Hulk Hogan

The man who has been professional wrestling royalty for decades has always managed to bounce back and beat the three count when it looked as if his career was about to be over, but that may not be the case this time around. Hulk Hogan had his World Wrestling Entertainment career end in disgrace in the summer of 2015 when racist and homophobic comments that he had made in the past saw the light of day. Time heals all wounds, or so goes that famous saying, and Hogan may resurface in the wrestling world at some point down the road. That likely will not occur underneath the WWE umbrella, though.

Compiled by Adekunle Adewale (@hrhmayowa)

Culled from www.therichest.com and www.thesportster.com