Roberto Madrazo's victory in the Over-55 category in the Berlin Marathon was short-lived. He can thank marathoning's most infamous cheater Rosie Ruiz for getting busted.
Roberto Madrazo’s 2006 campaign for the Mexican presidency came up short. As it turns out, his victory in the Over-55 category in the 2007 Berlin Marathon did too.
Madrazo chugged home in the September 30th run in a time of 2:41:12. No matter what age a runner is, that’s a nice time. In Madrazo’s case, though, it was an amazing improvement. Just 3 months earlier, he completed the San Diego Marathon in 3:44:06; over an hour longer than his time in the Berlin jog.
Madrazo’s reign as Over-55 champ didn’t last long, though. Less than 2 weeks after his glorious victory, Berlin race officials disqualified him over suspicions that he took a short cut.
The Look of a Cheater
The first eyebrow was raised by a veteran marathon observer. According to the Associated Press account, New York-based photographer Victor Sailer saw Madrazo celebrating at the finish line in a jacket and hat. Sailer thought he appeared to be over-dressed for a guy who’d just completed the course in near-record time and alerted race officials.
They consulted the microchip Madrazo had worn on his shoe and, sure enough, determined that he had failed to pass 2 checkpoints.
According to the data taken from the chip, Madrazo would have had to cover a 9-mile chunk of the course in 21 minutes - Pretty quick, considering the world record for the distance is 41 minutes and 29 seconds. That was enough to convince officials to give Madrazo the heave-ho.
Rosie's Run
Madrazo’s story sounds a lot like that of another infamous marathon cheater named Rosie Ruiz. In fact, Madrazo’s downfall is likely a direct result of Rosie’s ill-starred grab for the laurel wreath at the 1980 Boston Marathon.
When the unknown Ruiz crossed the finish line, she was immediately hailed as champ, crowned with the traditional laurel wreath and bundled off to meet the media. During that press conference, however, the great Bill Rodgers, who had just taken the third of his 4 Boston titles, took notice. He commented that Ruiz, who was a shade on the pudgy side and not looking all that tired, didn’t look much like a runner, much less a marathoner.
When confronted, Rosie professed her innocence and offered to take a lie-detector test. Meanwhile, race officials poured over photos and videotape, but could find no evidence she was even in the race prior to the last couple of miles. Eventually, witnesses came forward claiming to have seen her coming out of the subway and joining the race a few miles from the end.
As it turned out, that was nothing new. She had qualified for Boston at the New York Marathon the previous year, but her results there were ultimately thrown out too over charges she’d used the subway.
A Microchip off the Old Block
So what’s all this got to do with a Mexican politician? Well, thanks to Ruiz, race organizers began taking precautions against cheaters. That eventually led to the development of the microchip tracking system that allows race officials to monitor the splits of every runner. And that’s how Madrazo was caught.
So, there’s a direct line between Ruiz and Madrazo in that one’s cheating led to another cheater getting caught. But there’s another thing that the pair have in common: Their marathon misadventures weren’t their first experience with dishonesty.
While Ruiz had cheated in a previous marathon and subsequently ran afoul of the law on drug and fraud charges, Madrazo’s record is equally murky.
His Institutional Revolutionary Party in Mexico resorted to fraud for decades to win elections. Among a laundry list of underhanded political ploys, he was also confirmed to have spent tens of millions of dollars over the campaign spending limit to win the 1994 governorship of Tabasco State.
Once a cheater, always a cheater.
