Why would an olympic athletes be whipped?

Answer 1

That would depend on the country or the regime he is or was representing at the time. Most athletes will be safe nowadays, but a famous example was Uday, the son of the late Saddam Hussein of Iraq and minister of sports of Iraq. While in power, he had a habit of punishing and torturing Iraqi athletes who in his eyes underperformed in the Olympic Games or in other international games.