Boris Onischenko, an army officer from Ukraine, entered the 1976 Olympics in Montreal a respected modern pentathlete who had won a silver medal in Munich four years earlier. He exited the Games in disgrace, with banner headlines around the world denouncing him as 'Disonischenko' and 'Boris the Cheat'.
Modern pentathlon is a five-discipline event that includes fencing, but Onischenko's épée was not the innocent weapon of competition it appeared. He had wired his sword so that he could trigger the eletronic scoring system with his hand and register a hit at will.
The British team, who were to win the gold medal, were the first to suspect that Onischenko was up to something during his bout against Adrian Parker. When Jim Fox, Onischenko's next opponent, protested vehemently that his opponent was managing to score without hitting him, officials took away the Soviet athlete's sword. He continued with a replacement weapon, but soon afterwards news came through that he had been disqualified. Stories that he was later banished to the Siberian salt mines were probably exaggerated. The rules of the sport were changed, though, banning grips that could hide wires or switches.
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