At the 2012 London Olympics, eight badminton players were disqualified for trying to lose matches.
The players were four women’s doubles pairs from China, South Korea, and Indonesia. They had already secured places in the knockout stage, and officials concluded that they deliberately played below their best to influence the next-round draw. The conduct included serving into the net and making unforced errors.
The controversy affected the women’s doubles tournament, not the whole badminton competition. The Badminton World Federation’s rules require players to make their best effort, and the tournament referee disqualified all eight athletes under the applicable misconduct provisions.
The incident prompted discussion about tournament formats and incentives. It is commonly remembered as the London “throwing matches” controversy, but the official sporting consequence was disqualification rather than a change to the medals already awarded.