{"id":2155,"date":"2026-06-16T13:53:25","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/?p=2155"},"modified":"2026-06-16T13:53:25","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:53:25","slug":"5-most-embarrassing-moments-in-womens-sports-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/2026\/06\/16\/5-most-embarrassing-moments-in-womens-sports-history\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Most Embarrassing Moments In Women’s Sports History"},"content":{"rendered":"

Women’s sports have come a long way \u2013 but the journey has been paved with some truly cringe-worthy moments. From forced twerk requests on global stages to catastrophic wardrobe malfunctions, these five incidents left players humiliated, fans speechless, and the internet laughing for years. Here are the most painfully awkward moments in women’s sports history.<\/span><\/p>\n

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1. The 1928 Olympics \u2013 When Female Runners Were Called “Wretched”<\/span><\/h2>\n

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The first-ever women’s 800m race in Olympic history was supposed to be a triumph. Instead, it became a disaster that banned women from running anything longer than 200 meters for 32 years. After several exhausted runners collapsed at the finish line, one journalist famously wrote about “11 wretched women, 5 of whom dropped out before the finish, while 5 collapsed after reaching the tape”. The event was deemed “not a very edifying spectacle” and women’s distance running was effectively killed for three decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. The Ballon d’Or Twerk Request (2018)<\/span><\/h2>\n

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Ada Hegerberg made history as the first-ever female Ballon d’Or winner \u2013 and then she was asked to twerk on stage. The Norwegian football star stood in her elegant gown, holding the most prestigious award in the sport, while French DJ Martin Solveig asked her in front of millions: “Do you know how to twerk?”. She answered an embarrassed “no,” and the moment instantly went viral for all the wrong reasons. Hegerberg later played it down, but the damage was done \u2013 a historic achievement overshadowed by a cringe-worthy question.<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. The Boxing Match That Lasted 46 Seconds (2024)<\/span><\/h2>\n

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At the Paris Olympics, Italian boxer Angela Carini faced Imane Khelif in a women’s welterweight bout that ended in total humiliation. Just 46 seconds into the fight, Carini took two brutal punches, sank to her knees in the middle of the ring, smashed the canvas in despair, and burst into tears. The reason? Khelif is a biological male. The IOC overruled the ban, allowing a man to beat a woman on the world’s biggest stage. Carini later said it was “unfair,” and the entire world watched a real woman get punished for the sake of political correctness.<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. Angel Reese’s Viral Warmup Disaster (2026)<\/span><\/h2>\n

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WNBA star Angel Reese went viral for all the wrong reasons when a video of her pre-game warmup hit the internet. Her shooting form was so bizarre \u2013 right-foot toe tap, launching with her left hand while her right hand sat on the front of the ball \u2013 that fans called it “one of the wildest, non-fundamental shots you’ll ever see”. The video was so painfully awkward that the reporter who posted it deleted it after millions of views. Reese is a professional athlete paid to play basketball \u2013 which made the clip even more embarrassing.<\/span><\/p>\n

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5. The Hot Mic Heard Round The World (2026)<\/span><\/h2>\n

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During a women’s NCAA softball game between Texas and Arizona State, a raspy male fan was caught on ESPN’s broadcast screaming something deeply inappropriate. As the announcer discussed the Longhorns’ championship hopes, the fan shrieked, “Lick my ballsack” \u2013 live on national television. Viewers were baffled, with one writing: “I heard this live and thought I was tripping”. Another fan admitted they had to “rewind to confirm we actually heard what we thought we heard”. The clip went instantly viral, turning a serious championship game into an internet meme.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Women’s sports have come a long way \u2013 but the journey has been paved with some truly cringe-worthy moments. From forced twerk requests on global stages to catastrophic wardrobe malfunctions,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusives","category-photo-vault","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2155"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2162,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2155\/revisions\/2162"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gleamgrid.co.za\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}