In 2004 Worapoj Petchkoom was a Thai national hero having claimed an Olympic Silver medal. Although he was clearly beaten in the final his loss was no shame having come to one of the greatest of all time in Guillermo Rigondeaux.

Over the following few years he had claimed various other titles including 2 Gold medals at the Southeast Asian Games (putting him on to 4 medals in the competition) and fought at both the 2007 World Amateur Champions and the 2008 Olympics.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the Thai's boxing but in 2009 he suffered a 3 month ban (denying him of a 5th successive Southeast Asian Games Gold medal) due to the fact he had "tarnished the reputation of professional athletes".

How had Worapoj tarnished the reputation of athletes? Well he'd been photographed and interviewed for gay lifestyle magazine "STAGE" (the cover of which can be seen above).

Despite the pictures not being obscene or indecent he was still forced to serve the ban by the Amateur Boxing Association of Thailand (ABAT) in what may be one of the gayest reasons for a ban in history (see what I did there?).

    The outside lives

    We all know that not everyone in the sport makes a name for themselves in the ring but what of those who become well known for the lives they lived outside of the ropes?

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