Olympic scandals and controversies

Are you angry that Munich won’t be hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics? Franz Beckenbauer must be, judging by the comments he made after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) named the South Korean city Pyeongchang as the host city in 2018. He was furious that only 25 of the 42 European countries on the committee voted for Munich. He claims the others acted out of self-interest: "Many prefer to think of a future candidacy of their own country and strive not to damage their chances,” he said.

As the IOC never usually award consecutive games on the same continent, Beckenbauer believes the other European countries would rather see the 2018 Olympics go to Asia so that they can have a chance at hosting the Olympics in 2022, if they wish.

The “Munich scandal” is only a minor scandal among hundreds — or maybe even thousands — of controversies in the history of the Olympics. The next games to be held will be the London 2012 Summer Olympics. They are not without their controversies either. The latest involves tickets.

Deborah Capras 

Learn more about the controversy in our test on the next page.