Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
The entry titled "The "race" issue: A marathon of troubles for Madrazo."
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2007 > October > 09 > Entry
The “race” issue: A marathon of troubles for Madrazo
There aren’t many things that can compare to the public humiliation that former presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo has gone through in the last week. While his reputation as a politician was never squeaky clean - allegations of election fraud dogged him for years - his character wasn’t completely annihilated until he ran in a marathon.
It began two Sundays ago at the Berlin Marathon in Germany. Madrazo, a longtime politician with the PRI, Mexico’s former ruling party, had largely dedicated himself to marathon running since his dismal third-place showing in the 2006 presidential election. But in Berlin, something amazing happened: he finished in 2:41:12, a full hour ahead of his personal best and won his age class (55-59).
But a race photographer noticed something strange. Madrazo looked remarkably relaxed and rested and was still wearing a windbreaker despite the heat. Upon closer examination, race officials discovered Madrazo had failed to pass through two electronic checkpoints and his personal microchip showed he had run nine miles in an astounding (and humanly impossible) 21 minutes. Matching up his times with a map of the figure 8-type race course showed Madrazo appeared to have taken a short cut.
Madrazo’s athletic “feat” was first splashed across the front page of the Mexico City daily Reforma. Soon after, Berlin race officials stripped Madrazo of his title and the German press began to attack.
“The fastest man in Mexico,” one magazine derisively called him. “It truly seems Madrazo knows how to work fraud in the sports arena as well,” wrote a financial newspaper of Madrazo, whose election victory as the governor of Tabasco state had been marred by accusations of fraud.
But the worst roastings, of course, awaited Madrazo in his homeland. “Those that are rotten inside will always cheat,” railed conservative Senator Federico Doring. “It’s a shame for Mexico and a shame for the marathon itself.”
Leftist lawmaker Javier Gonzalez Garcia suggested Madrazo suffers from mental problems: “Everyone knows he’s a great sportsman, but this need to win at all costs, it seems like a sickness.”
Others have demanded a public apology from Madrazo, saying he has smeared the reputation of all Mexicans, who will be seen as cheaters in the global community.
Madrazo has yet make a public appearance since the marathon. Given the hammering he’s received, that might be harder than running nine miles in 21 minutes.
Comments
By frank carter
October 9, 2007 10:43 PM | Link to this
I say run the rascal out off town, one thing for sure he has dug his own grave for any future political race…I know its sad, but I can’t stop laughing. It sound like an Italian comedy in one of those silent movies HaH!