Rosie Ruiz

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Rosie Ruiz Vivas (born 1953, Havana, Cuba) is a Cuban American runner who on April 21, 1980 ostensibly came in as the first place female competitor in the 84th Boston Marathon, but who was later stripped of her title when it was found that she had cheated.

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[edit] The race

Ruiz completed the marathon with a record time of 2:31:56.[1] However, race officials determined that she had not completed the entire 26.2-mile course, but had registered for the race and later jumped in from the crowd and sprinted to the finish.[2]

There was suspicion from the beginning, as no one had seen her running earlier in the race, she did not appear in videotape footage, and some members of the crowd reported witnessing her run into the race in the last mile.[3] In addition, her time of 2:31:56 was an unusual improvement, more than 25 minutes ahead of her reported time in the New York City Marathon six months earlier. When asked by a reporter why she didn't seem fatigued after the grueling race, she said, "I got up with a lot of energy this morning."[4] Soon, race officials learned that Ruiz had possibly cheated in the New York marathon in order to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Freelance photographer Susan Morrow reported meeting her on the subway during the New York race and accompanying her from the subway to the race. She lost touch with Ruiz after that, but came forward when the news of Ruiz's dubious Boston win broke. According to Morrow, she met Ruiz on the subway and together they walked a distance to the finishing area, where Ruiz identified herself as an injured runner. She was escorted to a first aid station and volunteers marked her down as having completed the marathon, thus qualifying her for the Boston Marathon.

Eventually, race officials decided to strip Ruiz of her Boston Marathon title and named Jacqueline Gareau of Montreal, Canada the women's winner, with a time of 2:34:28.[5] New York Marathon director Fred Lebow had rescinded Ruiz's 1979 finish earlier that week, determining that Ruiz had not completed her first marathon, either. As of 2008, Ruiz has not officially finished a sanctioned marathon.

[edit] Theories behind the hoax

In 2006, the Game Show Network aired a documentary on the marathon scandal.[6] In it, marathon officials and other experts offered up their opinions on what actually happened. The most widely held theory is that Ruiz did not mean to win the race, merely to finish with a respectable time. It is believed that after Ruiz was awarded a qualifying finish time in the 1979 New York Marathon, she was unable to admit her cheating to her boss, who was so excited by Ruiz's qualifying time that he offered to pay her expenses to Boston. On the day of the 1980 Boston Marathon, Ruiz is believed to have walked from her hotel to Kenmore Square, one mile from the finish line. She is thought to have jumped in too early, not realizing she was ahead of all the female runners.

Her inability to recall prominent landmarks along the race course and her unfamiliarity with common marathoning terms (such as intervals and splits) not only gave rise to doubts about the veracity of her victory, but also revealed that she likely had not planned to steal the first position. The thinking was that a person who planned to impersonate the victor would have studied these things and been ready to answer such common questions. Ruiz's lack of "preparation", coupled with the revelations of her situation in New York, have led many to the conclusion that she merely jumped in the race sooner than she intended.

After the race, there were those who accused race organizer Will Cloney of prolonging his investigation in a cynical attempt to draw attention to the marathon. Cloney brushed this aside by saying, "I'm not that smart," and few people gave this idea any credence. It was also revealed that Ruiz had had brain tumor surgeries and may have had a mental disability.

As of 2008, she continues to deny any cheating, insists she ran the entire distance in both races, and refuses to return her first place medal.

[edit] Life after the race

Ruiz quickly faded from the public eye after she was stripped of her title. Shortly after the race, she was fired from her job at New York-based Metal Traders, Inc. (The yellow Adidas shirt she wore during the race was a gift from her boss, emblazoned with the company's initials across the chest, the slogan "white lines" and the company name on the back.)

In 1982, Ruiz was arrested and briefly jailed for stealing $60,000 in cash and checks from a Manhattan real estate firm where she was employed. She spent a week in jail and was given five years' probation. Nineteen months later, after moving home to Florida, she was arrested for arranging to sell two kilos of cocaine to undercover agents in Miami. Ruiz spent 23 days in jail and received two years probation.

She was married in 1984. The marriage ended two years later, but Ruiz kept her husband's surname of Vivas, a name she still uses. She has lived in south Florida for several years and currently resides in West Palm Beach. Several of her friends and acquaintances, apprised of her history, report having had no knowledge of her connection with the marathon scandal, despite having known her for years, according to the GSN documentary.

Upon the rescinding of her victory, Cloney offered Ruiz the opportunity to run the following year's race, regardless of whether she met the qualifications. Ruiz chose not to compete in the 1981 Marathon. In 1998, The Palm Beach Post reported that Ruiz was planning to run in the 104th Boston Marathon in 2000. Although there are no records of Ruiz attempting to enter the marathon that year, the rules of the Boston Athletic Association forbid a disqualified runner from racing again; Ruiz is banned for life from the Boston Marathon. In an interview for the 2006 GSN documentary, Ruiz said that she is no longer running due to an unspecified injury.

Ruiz has also said that she has been approached several times by parties offering her generous sums of money to write a book admitting her deceit and explaining exactly what she did on the day of the 1980 marathon. She has refused all purported offers, according to the documentary, and is planning to revert to the name Ruiz.

[edit] Aftermath

Jacqueline Gareau was awarded a winner's medal at a press conference over a week after the marathon. Her medal was bigger than the one that Ruiz had originally received, equal in size to the larger men's medal. (Since the 1980 race, women and men have been awarded medals equal in size.) In 2005, Gareau served as Grand Marshal of the Boston Marathon, and in a special ceremony was allowed to recreate her finish and break the tape.

As a result of the scandal, the Boston Marathon and several other races instituted a number of safeguards against cheating that are still used today. These include extensive video surveillance and the ChampionChip RFID system that monitors electronically when runners arrive at various checkpoints on the course. These techniques have been used to identify other would-be cheaters, notably "Jean's Marines", a group of charity runners who were caught cutting the course during the 2005 Marine Corps Marathon.[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Boston Marathon history - Boston Globe
  2. ^ Rosie Ruiz Wins the Boston Marathon
  3. ^ Boston: The Canadian Story - By David Blaikie
  4. ^ The top 50 sporting scandals - Times Online
  5. ^ Running Times Magazine: Rosie Ruiz Tries to Steal the Boston Marathon
  6. ^ Anything to Win, Game Show Network series, episode "Rosie Ruiz and the Boston Marathon Scandal" (original airdate January 10, 2006)
  7. ^ "The scam: It's been 25 years since Rosie Ruiz failed to fool the world", Boston Herald, April 15, 2005. 
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