As the 2012 Olympic hype machine reaches a crescendo it seems an appropriate time to honor some of the greatest moments in the history of the Games. That’d be the Summer Games mind you because those other ones they hold on off years don’t really count.

We are now a mere ten days away from the opening ceremonies in London and the world awaits with breathless anticipation. To help feed your jones for all things Olympics, I’ll be featuring one of the most glorious moments from past Olympics over each of the next ten days.

Enjoy:

While I’ve done my best to call your attention to the hottest and gayest athletes who will be competing this year, I’ve been remiss by failing to mention the Paralympics, which are part and parcel to the sports spectacle known as the Olympic Games. Like the Special Olympics (a completely different set of sports contests) the Paralympics are designed to provide an opportunity for the world’s best disabled athletes to compete with each other; they run concurrently with the Olympic Games. And like their better known brother, the Paralympics too have not been free of scandal.

At the Sydney Games, the mens basketball team from Spain competing in the intellectually disabled division – and now you understand why I’ve kept away from the Paralympics and the trouble I’d sure to be in for not being PC – was victorious, winning the gold medal and adding to the haul that put Spain third in the medal table behind the US and Britain. Two weeks after the Games closed the team was stripped of their medals when team member and undercover journalist Carlos Ribagorda revealed that 10 of the 12 competitors were not disabled.

The rules required that each athlete not have an IQ above 70; the Spanish Paralympic Committee was found to have not conducted the required tests to confirm competitors had an intellectual disability. Ribagorda reported that the Spanish Federation for Mentally Handicapped Sports (FEDDI) deliberately chose to sign up athletes who were not intellectually disabled to “win medals and gain more sponsorship”.

Ribagorda, who admitted he was one of 10 members of the 12-man squad who had absolutely nothing wrong with them, says he was invited to train in Madrid with the basketball team in preparation for the Sydney Games and saw an opportunity for a journalistic scoop. “There were five months of training with not a single disabled person in sight. The two genuinely disabled players came from outside Madrid.”

While not intellectually disabled, the team proved it was morally disabled. In their first match their coach ordered the players to slow down on their scoring, having racked up a lead of 30 points by halftime. Questions about their qualifications began to surface after a photo of members ran in a popular Madrid sports daily publication, so team officials advised the players to grow beards and wear sunglasses to remain unrecognized when they made their triumphal return home at Madrid’s airport.

Ribagorda also alleged that some Spanish athletes in the table tennis, track and field, and swimming events were also not disabled. Five other medal were won by the not disabled Spanish athletes; you do have to wonder how proud you’d be at only taking home the bronze when all of your fellow competitors suffered from learning or physical disabilities.

[‘The XXX Games’ are a series of posts about hot Olympians, gay competitors – both present and past – and general articles about the 2012 London Olympics of interest to gay men. So, yeah, lots of hot male eye candy. Click the XXX Games graphic below for additional news, stories, and pictures.]