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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2007 
Madrazo: I Didn't Cheat in Marathon
 Jessica Bernstein-Wax - Associated Press
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| | Former Mexican presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) talks to the media in Mexico City on May 10, 2006. A year after Madrazo flopped in elections and faded from view, his disqualification from a German marathon for cheating has thrust him back into the media spotlight. (Reuters) |
Mexico City - A Mexican politician stripped of his first-place title in a marathon after apparently taking a shortcut said Wednesday that he never intended to complete the race and simply went to the finish line to collect his belongings.
Roberto Madrazo, who finished a distant third in Mexico's 2006 presidential election, was lampooned around the world after photographs and video footage showed him running across the finish line pumping his arms and grinning in the Sept. 30 Berlin marathon.
After a race photographer noted Madrazo finished the marathon wearing a jacket and long running tights and barely sweating, officials opened an investigation and eventually disqualified his age-55 category 1st place win.
Madrazo broke a week of silence Wednesday, issuing a statement in which he said the allegations of him cheating were nothing more than political attacks meant to discredit his sporting career and his as-yet-unlaunched foundation, Marathon: A Foundation for Competition.
"I never declared myself the winner in Berlin with the time distributed by the media nor did I receive any medal for the alleged first place," Madrazo said.
He did not explain, however, why he crossed the finish line running with the rest of the participants or why he didn't alert race officials that he hadn't run the whole course.
News of his escapades in Berlin have made Madrazo the butt of nationwide jokes in Mexico, where many said he took his party's old-style dirty tricks to the world of international sports.
Madrazo was the 2006 presidential candidate for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, known for rigging elections before it lost the presidency in 2000, after 71 years in power.
Madrazo said he was never trying to fool anyone with his Berlin race.
"My marathon times have been between 3 hours, 14 minutes and 3 hours, 54 minutes — never 2 hours and 40 minutes," Madrazo said. "It would be impossible for a 55-year-old man to do that."
Madrazo said he stopped running after the 21st kilometer because of an injury and headed to the start/finish line to pick up his clothing and participatory medal.
Race director Mark Milde said Madrazo would be receiving a letter of disqualification.
Associated Press Writer David McHugh in Berlin contributed to this report. |
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