Did Rosie Ruiz Die This Week?

rojo wrote:

Ernest wrote:

“...Charlie Rogers, brother of Bill, the man who won the race, took one look at Ruiz on the podium and thought she was a fraud. “The first thing I did was look at her legs, and I said, ‘Oh, we have a problem here’. I mean it was Cellulite City.”

It's funny. If you said "Cellulite city" now you'd be accused of fat shaming. So back then no one flat out called her a cheat but you could use words like cellulite city.

From Kathrine Switzer's book, Marathon Woman:

"Down the finish stretch she came again, all jiggling cellulite and flailing arms. It was weird. Here she was, running a 2:31, a new course and new American record, and she wasn't even thin."

kevrei wrote:

In the video of the finish line I’m the lanky feller in orange Dolphin shorts( remember those?) finishing 2 spots ahead of Rosie Ruiz. I finished 143rd that day, now that’s a reality check, that time, 2:31 would be a top 50 finish in 2019. The crowd was pretty quiet as I got in to the last mile, 143rd place is not that exciting for spectators. Quite suddenly a roar went up and I figured the first woman was just behind me and apparently finishing fast. I did not want to be passed by the first woman and picked it up a little finishing just a few seconds ahead of the infamous Rosie Ruiz.

We will need Derik to verify the validity of your claim. Are the said orange shorts still within your possession?

These kind of deaths seem to happen in threes. If I were a notorious marathon cheat with a four letter Hispanic last name, I'd be nervous right now.

kevrei wrote:

In the video of the finish line I’m the lanky feller in orange Dolphin shorts( remember those?) finishing 2 spots ahead of Rosie Ruiz. I finished 143rd that day, now that’s a reality check, that time, 2:31 would be a top 50 finish in 2019.

Remember them? I had a few pairs of them. Who didn't back then? Amazing what a 2:31 will get you today compared to back in the past.

I am oddly superstitious wrote:

These kind of deaths seem to happen in threes. If I were a notorious marathon cheat with a four letter Hispanic last name, I'd be nervous right now.

Hahahhahaha oh sh1t, you're onto something.

I found no documentation of this story from another source nor did I find that she gave that explanation. I don't know what was going on in her mind. Likely she didn't either.

Tom

Absolutely. I did not know the whole brain tumor story until after I posted this. She rode the subway with the freelance photographer to the finish then disappeared into that finish line area and into the medical tent where her fraud was executed. This is the age of Popsicle sticks with your place written in marker...not sure how advanced the finish line was at the NYC Marathon in 1979. And who would have suspected that someone was going to cheat in a marathon in 1979????? She got into Boston, sure but I don't think that was even her intention. She was trying to impress her boss or something, right?

Did she kill herself over harassment from LR?

GOAT cheater is Cierpinski. I know Frank Shorter and there is no doubt in my mind that he would NEVER cheat.

The STASI records provide clear evidence that Waldemar was a cheater.

I am oddly superstitious wrote:

These kind of deaths seem to happen in threes. If I were a notorious marathon cheat with a four letter Hispanic last name, I'd be nervous right now.

ROFL POD

Nope. She was harassed for at least 20 long years before LetsRun.com was founded.

Apparently, her conscience harassed her though......

Pile on a dead woman but don't talk about Josh Cox being overweight. That would be out of line.

Inconsistent Irene wrote:

Pile on a dead woman but don't talk about Josh Cox being overweight. That would be out of line.

+1

Letsrun has it's priorities in the right order.

I was there and caught a few frames of Rosie maybe a half-mile from the finish. https://youtu.be/-xQV3UoYaN4

Naia champ, thanks for the video. Yeah, that's gotta be Rosie, jiggling her way to a temporary American record!

It seems amazing that anyone would have believed her victory claim for more than a minute. The argument that some make, that "it was a different day and age, so it was easy to have happened", doesn't hold water, because it was so outrageously obvious, even then, that she was a phony.

Still, the first across the line was very rapidly presented with a wreath and medal (that's how it was done then, anyway), and I understand why Rosie received these goodies. The fact that it took eight days to nullify Rosie's win and to rightfully give Jacqueline Gareau the victory is baffling, though.

It's all ancient history, though. 1980 was probably long before most people reading this were born!

Washington Post obituary is on the Frank Meza thread, a little late but well done.

naia champ wrote:

I was there and caught a few frames of Rosie maybe a half-mile from the finish.

https://youtu.be/-xQV3UoYaN4

In an eerie bit of prophecy, the beginning of your video has some footage of Steve "Superman" Marek, president of the Suburban Road Runners Club in Westchester, New York. He was infamous at the time for blatantly calling attention to himself by lining up at the front row of races, including the 1978 New York Marathon, in that costume. He cheated in that New York Marathon by hitching a car ride for part of it and was subsequently banned from the race, but entered again the next year under an assumed name.

Ruiz had joined Suburban Road Runners just before the Boston Marathon, and afterwards Marek befriended and defended her, including at this press conference shown on the CBS Evening News (introduced by none other than Walter Cronkite). Birds of a feather. Notice the histrionics from the two of them:

Great link! Rosie sez, “My title”, as if simple verification was some new interrogation technique. Another cheater as victim, victimized by the Walter Cronkite mob!

Steve “Superman” Marek even claimed later, according to the WAPO obit, that Rosie secretly admitted to cheating; anything for another headline!