Old adage - if you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin' - put to test in series of strange plays

This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports. For more information about CBC's Opinion section, please see the FAQ.

For as long as there has been sport, there has been cheating. In fact, legend tells us that in ancient Greece, athletes would promise Zeus they wouldn't cheat. Athletes agreed to play fairly or face the possibility of fines or having statues erected to remind the community of the sin they committed. 

Governing bodies of sports have failed to eradicate cheating from races, matches, tournaments and playoffs, perhaps proving true the words of J. Weston Phippen: "Cheating, like competition, is human nature."

Athletes routinely submit to urine tests to ensure that they aren't doping. And even when they aren't, the complicated process can sometimes create misunderstandings that destroy their experiences and cost them medals. At the 1995 Pan Am Games in Argentina, Canadian rower Silken Laumann was stripped of her gold medal for an apparent doping infraction. It turned out she simply took the wrong type of the antihistamine medication Benedryl, despite consulting physicians, but her appeal was denied.

WATCH: Chess world rocked by cheating allegation:

Chess world rocked by cheating accusation scandal

2 years ago

Duration 2:01

The world of chess has been in turmoil over accusations of cheating made by the game's leading player. Magnus Carlsen has publicly accused an up-and-coming American chess player named Hans Niemann of cheating after Niemann beat him at a tournament in St. Louis.

On a different note, the past couple of weeks have presented some instances of cheating that border on the bizarre, and made slightly comical by being in competitions some might call "sports adjacent."

Last month, Norwegian chess grandmaster Magnus Carlsen was stunned when he was beaten by 19-year-old American Hans Neimann. Carlsen accused the teen of cheating, based mostly on the fact that Neimann's body language was too relaxed and that the win seemed "effortless."

Neimann admitted that, as a younger teen, he had cheated in online matches and been banned from Chess.com. But he said he has never cheated in an over-the-board game. That might sound hard to to, but some players have been accused of going to the bathroom to check an app that can tell them what their best move may be. Allegations of cheating have even involved some far-fetched and racy conspiracy theories about anal beads. 

It may seem odd but I don't think that we can divorce a desire to win from any competition. The need to win can be from ego, it can be from the release of dopamine victory brings, or it can be from wanting proximity to power. Everyone loves a winner, right?

And how do "losers" react? In a highly publicized poker game at the Hustler Casino in Los Angeles, poker celebrity Garrett Adelstein was beaten by lower-ranked Robbi Jade Lew after she called his bluff with a weak hand and won a pot of almost $270,000. Adelstein is convinced that Lew broke the rules by wearing a vibrating device that let her know she had the strongest hand. There might not be concrete evidence but the accusations blew up and the poker drama took over social media. 

Lew ended up giving Adelstein's $135,000 back. It is unclear whether she offered or he asked. People have examined the livestream video so intensely that there is even a video that tracks Lew's hands and identifies the moment when her ring is taken off. Was the ring a possible vibrating device used to help her?

Just when you may think that this is outrageous, we shift over to the scandal searing through pro fishing. Two anglers were found to have stuffed their catch with lead balls and other fillets of fish in order to increase the weight and win close to $30,000 in prizes.

I must say the video is quite damning. One of the fishermen, Jake Runyon, stands unmoved and almost emotionless as his catches are gutted and lead balls are removed. The judge was prompted to check the fish because his own fish was bigger but weighed less. The eye of an experienced angler.

Runyon, along with Chase Cominsky, had already won three previous competitions this summer. As you can hear in the video, some men were very angry and on the event's Facebook page, commenters congratulated event organizers for exposing the anglers but preventing violence.

From poker to chess to pro fishing there has been drama, videos leaked and complex theories involving sophisticated technology and outlandish accusations. But when we think of sport shouldn't we think of integrity, fairness and respect? I certainly don't think of lead weights being stuffed in a walleye. Perhaps a vibrating device to assist with a win isn't worth the tarnished reputation, humiliation and exile from sport. Or maybe hiding a card under your seat when playing Uno with your kids is just simple fun.

The harm caused by this type of deceit may be dealt with in other ways. The goddesses of sport might have some cousins called "karma." And they can show up when you least expect it.