A Name Synonymous With Cheating

Wow…she doesn’t even look tired!

That’s what some folks said on this date back in 1980 when they saw Rosie Ruiz finish “first” for the women at the Boston Marathon.

Good time, too. 2:31:56.

She got the medal, the laurel wreath and silver bowl—and the accolades of millions who either witnessed or heard about her crossing the Finish Line.

Eight days later, however, she was stripped of her victory after race officials learned that Ruiz jumped into the race about a mile before the finish. Word was that she had taken Boston Mass Transit to scoot her ahead.

Here is a short video of the Boston Marathon finish. Rosie is said to be wearing yellow:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S18PtCsJD4k&feature=related


While she has never really explained WHY she cheated, it appears that her deception was NOT meant to win the race. The Cuban born administrative assistant from New York had apparently qualified for the Boston race after her finish in the New York Marathon. Her boss was impressed—and offered to pay her way to the Boston Marathon.

Here’s where it gets pathetically interesting---and funny.

Ruiz’s original intention was apparently to jump into the middle of the pack. She miscalculated her entry point, however, not realizing that she was entering the race just a mile before the finish—and ahead of the 448 other female runners!

Ruiz was unknown in the running world—so race officials became suspicious when they saw that her winning time---then the third fastest marathon time in history for a woman—was a full 25 minutes faster than her New York Marathon time.

Oops.

Lost in the shuffle was Jacqueline Gareau of Canada, who was the REAL winner for the women. Ruiz’s time for the New York race was also invalidated when it was determined that she rode the subway for part of that race!

Also overshadowed was the overall winner, Bill Rogers, who won his fourth consecutive Boston Marathon.

As for Ruiz, the road got rougher. Steadfastly maintaining that she won the race fairly, she lost her job in New York. She encountered more trouble in 1982 when she was accused of stealing money from an employer. The following year, she was caught selling drugs to an undercover police officer and served a couple of stints in jail.

Where she is now—or what she is up to today is not known, but after 30 years, she is still the butt of jokes and her name has become synonymous with cheating. In fact, it has become a verb: “I Rosie Ruiz’d that race!”

For those of us who have ever been lost in Boston (all of us), there can be at least some measure of pity. Our misdirection and wrong turns have caused us angst and emotional outbursts. For Rosie, had she been able to blend in earlier, it likely would never have been discovered. But, as it turned out, her inability to master a Boston map essentially defined her life.

Were she to have found a cure for cancer, it’s still likely that her obituary would read:
“Rosie Ruiz: Boston Marathon Cheater Dies”

The Fickle Finger Of Fate touches us all. For Rosie, it was the middle finger.

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