Daniel popowski
08/01/2021 12:06
Clarín.com
International
sports
Updated 08/01/2021 12:07
Cuban athlete
Rosie Ruiz
left everyone stumped after winning the Boston Marathon with the third best female record in history.
Everyone stood applauding her, amazed, incredulous.
Not only had he finished the test just
four minutes from the world record
, but he had lowered the mark set six months earlier in the New York City Marathon by more than 25.
However, this exceptional record invited distrust of the hitherto unknown competitor.
And soon the truth came to light to make it clear that
not all athletes stand out for waving the
fair play flag high .
Unexpected triumph and doubts
On
April 21, 1980
, Rosie Ruiz, a 27-year-old runner from Cuba with almost no sports background, won the gold medal in one of the most famous races in the world with
a time of 2:31:56
, the fastest in the history of competition in the American city.
Ruiz on the podium.
after winning the 42 kilometers with a time of 2:31:56.
Ruiz's story had all the spices to fascinate athletic lovers.
A woman of humble origin whose face is not recognized, without being very clear about the terms of her discipline, who as a foreigner in the United States bursts into a world that elevates the winners.
The 25-minute improvement over his time in the New York test, his previous race and the one that earned him qualifying for Boston, was truly striking and unusual.
But there was something in particular that set off the alerts of his colleagues: the physical condition in which the competition ended was far from that usually exhibited by those who
ran 42 kilometers
.
The first to suspect was
Bill Rodgers
, winner of the test in the men's category.
He was very surprised to see her arrive at the press conference
without signs of sweat and breathing normally
, while he was still exhausted.
On the other hand, no other participant remembered running alongside the athlete wearing the W50 number.
The first to suspect was Bill Rodgers, winner of the test in the men's category.
"This morning I woke up with a lot of energy," the competitor born in Havana just answered the innocent question about why she looked so whole and not agitated and panting like the rest.
The investigation from New York to Boston
After collecting all kinds of evidence, the results of the investigation were as surprising as they were overwhelming for Ruiz.
Photographer Susan Morrow testified that she ran into Ruiz on the
New York City
subway
and escorted her to the vicinity of the race.
And that the athlete managed to
reinsert herself in the test with a
few meters remaining to the finish, taking advantage of the fact that the euphoric spectators had their attention focused on what was happening in the corridor.
This "successful"
modus operandi
would have been the same as applied in Boston later: two Harvard University students claimed to have seen her enter the track from the public near Kenmore Square, 1.6 kilometers from the finish line.
The most imperfect plan on the planet?
Did you think no one would notice?
Weren't you aware of the partial checks or the existence of the videos?
Eight days after her victory, Ruiz was stripped of her triumphs in New York and Boston.
After overwhelming evidence to corroborate the truth, his brilliant New York triumph
turned into a massive fraud
.
Ruiz was disqualified and his participation in Boston canceled.
The win then went to Jacqueline Gareau with 2:34:28.
The gold medal stayed with Rosie for just 8 days, long enough to become a short-lived celebrity.
In any case, at first he refused to return the prize;
he never admitted cheating
.
Intimate confession and dark legacy
As often happens with dark secrets, a person close to Ruiz in this case revealed years later that the athlete had confessed that she entered the Boston Marathon from the public, although not to cheat.
Rosie Ruiz, during a tough press conference.
He never acknowledged that he cheated.
“She did not know that the first girls of the competition had not yet passed,
her intention was only to cross the finish line, to arrive
.
In fact, she was very surprised when she was singled out as the winner, ”said the person.
To this day, in athletic jargon, there are those who continue to use
the phrase "Doing a Rosie"
to refer to an athlete who cheats by cutting back on his career path.
"We knew she had slipped in. We figured it out. She hadn't sweated enough, she ran in a heavy shirt; she didn't know anything about running," Rodgers told
The Associated Press
about the competitor at the time.
Rosie Ruiz, the Cuban athlete that no one remembered during the race.
He added: “I met her the next day on television, and she was crying inconsolably.
He simply should have said, 'Sorry, I made a mistake.'
Unknown life, cancer and end
Born on June 21, 1953 in Havana, Cuba, Rosie came to the United States when she was 8 years old.
She was separated from her mother and lived with cousins, aunts and uncles in Hollywood, Florida.
She studied and became
a piano teacher
in 1972, and years later earned her
Bachelor of Music
from Wayne State College in Nebraska.
He moved to the Big Apple in 1977.
He loved everything about New York
, especially the fast pace of life in the city.
Soon her shameful short-lived fame would come with the marathons, which would prompt her to return to Florida, where she spent the rest of her life.
Her image found on an obituary website, where she was listed as Rosie M. Vivas.
Most of the years he found her working for the Laboratory Corporation of America, responsible for recruiting new accounts for the company and maintaining the accounts.
But he also served in the Better Business Bureau and
was
even
a real estate agent and notary public
.
Rosie
met the love of her life in 1988
at a friend's party.
They were together for 26 years, and in fact she played an important role in helping raise their three wonderful children.
On July 8, 2019, at age 66, Rosie died in Florida after
battling cancer for a decade
.
Her death was made known by a journalist, who identified her on an obituary website, where she appeared with the name of Rosie M. Vivas.
There, in those lines to remember her, they describe the life that few knew of the woman.
Not the biggest hoax in athletics.
That is why the phrase is not strange:
"Never forget to fight no matter what life throws at you
.
"
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