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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2007 
Mexico Pol Stripped of Marathon Title
 Jessica Bernstein-Wax - Associated Press
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| | Mexican former presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo celebrates as he crosses the finish line during the 2007 Real Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2007. Madrazo, who won the men's age-55 category in the Berlin marathon, was later disqualified by race officials for apparently taking a short cut, an electronic tracking chip indicates he skipped two checkpoints in the race and would have needed superhuman speed to achieve his win. (AP/Victor Sailer) |
Mexico City - After a humiliating defeat in Mexico's presidential election last year, Roberto Madrazo appeared to be back on top: He'd won the men's age-55 category in the Sept. 30 Berlin marathon with a surprising time of 2:41:12.
But Madrazo couldn't leave his reputation for shady dealings in the dust. Race officials said Monday they disqualified him for apparently taking a short cut — an electronic tracking chip indicates he skipped two checkpoints in the race and would have needed superhuman speed to achieve his win.
According to the chip, Madrazo took only 21 minutes to cover nine miles — faster than any human can run. "Not even the world record holder can go that fast," race director Mark Milde said.
In a photograph taken as he crossed the finish line, Madrazo wears an ear-to-ear grin and pumps his arms in the air. But he also wore a wind breaker, hat and long, skintight running pants — too much clothing, some said, for a person who had just run 26.2 miles in 60-degree weather.
Madrazo's outfit caught the attention of the New York-based marathon photographer Victor Sailer, who alerted race organizers that they might have a cheater on their hands.
"It was so obvious to me, if you look at everyone else that's in the picture, everyone's wearing T-shirts and shorts, and the guy's got a jacket on and a hat or whatever," Sailer said. "I looked at it and was like, wait a second."
The world record for 15 kilometers — the distance Madrazo covered in 21 minutes — is 41 minutes 29 seconds, by Felix Limo of Kenya.
At a Mexico City taxi stand on Monday, drivers Octavio Elizalde Cerrillo and Roberto Valle Rivera poked fun at Madrazo's troubles. They, like other Mexicans their age, lived under decades of uninterrupted rule by Madrazo's Institutional Revolutionary Party, which often resorted to fraud to win elections, leaving many deeply distrustful of politicians.
"If he's a cheat at one thing, he'll cheat at anything," said Valle Rivera, 44.
"If you're going to steal, you'll steal here, in the United States, in Europe, everywhere in the world," Elizalde Cerrillo, 41, added with a smile.
Madrazo's reputation at home was already tarnished. In 1996, Mexico's attorney general confirmed reports that he had spent tens of millions of dollars more than the legal campaign spending limit in his winning 1994 bid for the Tabasco state governorship.
While under investigation on those charges, Madrazo told police he was kidnapped for seven hours, beaten and threatened with death by unidentified assailants. Police couldn't find evidence of any such abduction, and many saw it as a sympathy ploy.
During the 2006 presidential campaign, opponents plastered walls with posters reading, "Do you believe Madrazo? I don't either!"
In June, Madrazo completed the San Diego marathon with a time of 3:44:06 — more than an hour slower than his time in Berlin, Mexican newspaper Reforma reported. Madrazo's office did not return phone calls from The Associated Press.
Race director Milde noted that Madrazo may have intended to drop out and taken a shortcut to reach the start-finish area.
"I don't know if it was his intention or accidental: I try to believe in the good of people," Milde said. But the fact that Madrazo appears to be celebrating in the photograph could go against this theory, he added.
Some 32,500 people finished the race and about 40 are disqualified every year, Milde said.
Associated Press Writer David McHugh in Berlin contributed to this report.
Mexican Politician's Lie Catches Up
Jo Tuckman - The Guardian
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The organisers of last month's Berlin marathon said they would remove a former Mexican presidential candidate from the list of race winners because he cheated.
Roberto Madrazo, who has run dozens of marathons before, arrived at the finish line arms raised in triumph. His time of 2 hours, 40 minutes and 57 seconds was the fasted for men aged 55 and over.
Mr Madrazo stood for the Institutional Revolutionary party (PRI) in Mexico's presidential elections last year. The PRI ruled Mexico between 1929 and 2000, staying in power with the aid of an uncanny ability to win elections whatever its popularity. Mr Madrazo came a disappointing third, unable to shake off a reputation for being a particularly brazen trickster.
The Mexican's public shaming in Berlin follows days of campaigning by the local newspaper Reforma. Immediately suspicious of the politician's miraculous time, that shaved over an hour off his previous personal best, the newspaper investigated the race details recorded from the microchips all runners carry with them. Each runner's time is automatically clocked as they go past stations placed along the course five minutes apart.
Mr Madrazo completed the first 20 kilometres (12 miles) of the race at his usual pace. Then he disappears from the computer for 15 kilometres before reappearing to finish in grand style.
Doing the sums, the 55-year-old would have had to run the missing section significantly quicker than Haile Gebrselassie, the 34-year-old Ethiopian who set a new world marathon record in the race.
"The system fell, Madrazo wins," ran the headline in Reforma, drawing a direct comparison with the 1988 presidential election, which the PRI won after the computers at the vote-counting centre crashed. |
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