Rutger Beke

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Rutger Beke (Halle, 8 augustus, 1977) is a Belgian triathlete living in Leuven.

Rutger started doing triathlon when he was 17. He won the silver medal on the World Championships in Ibiza in 2002 when he was 25.

Beke became well-known because of his alleged Epo use. In 2004, he was tested positive in both his A- and B-sample for EPO. He was suspended of competition for 18 months. In August 2005 the Commission reversed its decision and exonerated him based on scientific and medical information presented by Beke. He asserted that his sample had become degraded as a result of bacterial contamination and that the substance identified by the laboratory as pharmaceutical EPO was, in fact, an unrelated protein indistinguishable from pharmaceutical EPO in the test method. He claimed, therefore, that the test had produced a false positive result in his case.

In 2007, he was the 5th Belgian who won an Ironman, together with Luc Van Lierde, Dirk van Gossum, Marino Vanhoenacker and Gerrit Schellens.