SPORTS> Feature and Column
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SPORTS> Feature and Column
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Athletics-Marathon debacle memory runs on
(Reuters)
Updated: 2006-04-17 11:23 TORONTO - Twenty-six years ago, Jacqueline Gareau, a largely unknown French Canadian, would never have predicted she would be the winner of the prestigious Boston Marathon. Nor would she know that two and half decades later, she would still be remembered as the "other" woman in the Rosie Ruiz saga, one of the biggest scandals in sporting history. Many of those looking forward to this year's race later on Monday will surely remember the unbelievable turn of events on balmy April 21, 1980. That was the day when Ruiz, a Cuban-born administrative assistant from New York, clumsily stumbled across the finish line in a course-record 2:31:56 to claim victory. But strangely, no one had seen her during the race. Nor could anyone figure out why she did not have sweat stains under her arms or failed to know what intervals were when being interviewed by the media. The plot soon unraveled before the world's eyes and Ruiz was formally disqualified a week later, and Gareau recognized as the winner, after it was concluded that Ruiz ran less than a mile of the 26.2-mile course. It also came to light that Ruiz never completed the New York Marathon the previous fall either, taking a subway shortcut to finish. Until this day Ruiz still claims she won the race fairly, and one theory is she honestly believes it. Two years after the Boston debacle, Ruiz walked up to Gareau at the end of a 10-km run in Miami to introduce herself. When Gareau asked her why she did it, Ruiz simply replied: "I ran the race," as she has repeated time and again. "If she's sick, I would say I'm sad for her," Gareau, now 53, said from her home in Saint-Bruno, Quebec. "But if she's lying and keeping the story alive like that, then I feel like I'm tired of it. "At least she could say I'm sorry, it was a mistake." |
