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Rosie Ruiz

Rosie Ruiz faked winning the women's division of the 1980 Boston Marathon by joining the race near the finish line instead of running the full course. She was stripped of her title after officials discovered she did not appear in any race photos until the end and her finishing time was much faster than her previous race. Her cheating overshadowed the men's winner that year and she faced legal trouble in later years.

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Claudia Cuello
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35 views2 pages

Rosie Ruiz

Rosie Ruiz faked winning the women's division of the 1980 Boston Marathon by joining the race near the finish line instead of running the full course. She was stripped of her title after officials discovered she did not appear in any race photos until the end and her finishing time was much faster than her previous race. Her cheating overshadowed the men's winner that year and she faced legal trouble in later years.

Uploaded by

Claudia Cuello
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Sports

1980
Rosie Ruiz fakes Boston Marathon win
Rosie Ruiz, age 26, finishes first in the women’s division of the Boston Marathon with a time of 2:31:56 on
April 21, 1980. She was rewarded with a medal, a laurel wreath and a silver bowl; however, eight days later
Ruiz is stripped of her victory after race officials learned she jumped into the race about a mile before the
finish line.

The Cuban-born Ruiz, an administrative assistant from New York City, qualified for the 84th Boston
Marathon by submitting her time for running the 1979 New York City Marathon. Although Ruiz never
explained why she cheated, it has been suggested her boss was so impressed she qualified for the prestigious
Boston race that he offered to pay her way. It’s believed that Ruiz intended to jump into the middle of the
pack of runners but miscalculated when she joined the marathon one mile from the end, not realizing she
was ahead of the other 448 female competitors.

Ruiz was unknown in the running world and her victory raised suspicions because it was a 25-minute
improvement over her New York City Marathon time. Additionally, her winning time was then the third-
fastest marathon time in history for a woman. After studying race photographs–Ruiz didn’t appear in any of
them until the very end–and conducting interviews, Boston Marathon officials stripped Ruiz of her title on
April 29, 1980, and named Jacqueline Gareau of Canada the women’s division champion with a time of
2:34:28. Ruiz’s New York time was later invalidated when officials discovered she had taken the subway
during part of the race.

The controversy surrounding Ruiz overshadowed Bill Rogers, who won the men’s division of the 1980
Boston Marathon for a record fourth year in a row. At the 2005 Boston Marathon, Jacqueline Gareau served
as grand marshal and re-enacted her 1980 marathon performance by breaking the tape. After her cheating
was revealed, Ruiz, who maintained she had won the Boston Marathon fairly, lost her job in New York. She
encountered further trouble in 1982 when she was accused of stealing money from an employer. The
following year, she was caught selling drugs to undercover officers in Florida. In both cases, Ruiz served
brief stints in jail.

The first Boston Marathon was run on April 19, 1897. Women were officially allowed to compete in the
race starting in 1972. Following the Ruiz incident, race officials instituted tighter security measures to
prevent future episodes of cheating.

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