(They focused mainly on the men's race.) Ruiz did not show up there, on videotape or in any of 10,000 photographs taken along the first 25 miles of the course. In an era before tracking chips and electronic checkpoints, race organizers used spotters to scribble down the bib numbers of runners going by. I made a mistake.' Runners - we all drop out of races - we would have understood.' 'I was with her the next day on TV, and she was just crying her head off,' Rodgers said, adding that he thought Ruiz wanted to confess. 'She wasn't sweating enough she had on a heavy shirt she didn't know about running.

We, who knew what the marathon was, we got it,' Rodgers told The Associated Press on Thursday.

Even as she was awarded her medal and the traditional olive wreath, her competitors wondered how a woman they hadn't ever heard of - or seen on the course - could have won. 'Poor Rosie, she took all the brunt of it.'Īn unknown who didn't look or act like she had just run 26.2 miles, Ruiz finished first in the women's division in Boston in 1980 in a then-record time of 2 hours, 31 minutes, 56 seconds. 'It's a colorful part of the Boston Marathon history, that's for sure,' said Bill Rodgers, who won the men's race that year and was immediately suspicious of the woman sitting next to him on the awards podium. Ruiz, who was also known as Rosie Vivas, died in Florida of cancer on July 8, according to an obituary that made no mention of her Boston Marathon infamy.

Ruiz, Boston Marathon course-cutter, dies at 66īOSTON - Rosie Ruiz, the Boston Marathon course-cutter who was stripped of her victory in the 1980 race and went on to become an enduring symbol of cheating in sports, has died. You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser

Download rosie ruiz