Marathon cheaters in China: shades of Rosie
Marathon authorities in China are about to start using facial recognition techniques to foil an increasing number of cheaters:
Marathon running is booming in China, where more than 300 races were staged last year as a fitness craze sweeps the country.
But the fear of failure in the age of social media has seen some racers seek any means to ”˜achieve’ a respectable finishing time ”“ including not even taking part in the race.
Which immediately made me think of Rosie. Remember Rosie?:
On…April 21, in 1980, the 26-year-old New Yorker finished first among the marathon’s women runners in near-record time ”” just over two and a half hours…
Legendary runner Kathrine Switzer ”” the first woman ever to officially compete in the Boston Marathon ”” was instantly suspicious when she spoke to Ruiz after the race, which she was covering that day as a television commentator. Switzer asked what Ruiz’s intervals had been, per TIME; Ruiz replied, “What’s an interval?”
Oops.
More deception was revealed when New York Marathon officials looked into Ruiz’s 24th-place finish in that race and discovered that she had used a similar strategy to qualify for the Boston Marathon ”” by taking the subway instead of running most of the course. According to the New York Daily News, Ruiz explained the fact that she was wearing a marathon number by telling fellow subway riders that she had twisted her ankle and just wanted to see the end of the race.
She may not have had much training as a distance runner, but she seemed to have a great deal of practice in bending the truth. Even her application for the New York Marathon was based on a lie: An Associated Press story reveals that she submitted the form after the deadline had passed, but then got “special dispensation” by claiming she had a fatal brain tumor.
Although that article doesn’t say it, I seem to recall that Ruiz had not intended to win, just to place well (as she had in New York). But she miscalculated and won, drawing way too much attention to herself.
I take it Rosie later had a position of some sort in the Obama White House? I mean, she was perfectly qualified . . .
This makes me feel old- I remember this and it was 37 years ago.
All news is lies and all propaganda is disguised as news.
Willi Munzenberg
and since you added a picture they provided:
Photography works upon the human eye: what is seen is reflected in the brain without the need for complicated thought. In this way the bourgeoisie takes advantage of the mental indolence of the masses and does good business as well.
Willi Munzenberg
Photography has become an outstanding and indispensable means of propaganda in the revolutionary struggle.
Willi Munzenberg
Totalitarianism and sport in Russia pp. 54-69
and for the people in such countries, sports, dance, competition, all lead tothe potential freedom they cant get any other way.
there is a huge list of defectors from such countries. who took advantage of their being selected for sports (by muscle tests and other things as it IS a dictatorships)
Susan Rice got that job.
Cap’n Rusty; Wooly Bully:
Some subsequent history for Rosie:
Yes, I remember Rosie Ruiz.
I lived in Boston then in Kenmore Square along the marathon route. I was even training as a distance runner with thoughts of running a marathon someday, though not Boston because the qualifying times were impossibly stringent for average runners.
My peak was ten miles in 76 minutes but past that my left knee would give out. Years later I discovered I had torn my anterior cruciate ligament in high school. So marathons weren’t really in my future.
I remember feeling sorry for Rosie as a person so desperate for attention that she would cheat so baldly.
However, from the article neo linked, I see Ruiz was later charged with stealing $60,000 from her company, and after that of selling two kilos of coke to an undercover agent. So I guess she had a criminal nature.
Laura Michalek won the Chicago marathon in 1979 in a similar circumstance. There’s a good explanation of her feat here, http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2002-09-21/sports/0209210212_1_chicago-race-high-school-cross-country-lasalle-bank-chicago-marathon
Laura was a year behind me in school. Marathons were still kind-of new in 1979 and the Chicago marathon was only 3 years old. Laura mentioned she was going to run the marathon and when I asked her why she said she thought it would be fun and it would be good for training (in the article she states she had never run further than 10 miles prior). She came in 3rd in the women’s group, but it was later learned the first two women had cheated (I think one took a taxi and the other the El for part of the race). Good kid, Laura, and a great athlete!
Marathon and half marathon cheaters continue to this day. Recently a HuffPo blogger was found to have cut a half marathon course by over a mile and came in second. I am a slow runner and will never win anything but would never think of cutting the course in a race. EVER. Those runners that cheat should be banned from all races everywhere.
https://www.marathoninvestigation.com/2017/02/runner-disqualified-after-claiming-2nd.html