Sporting world records are one thing. Blatant cheating is another thing entirely. The meaning of sport is always liable to one's own perception, although it doesn't make the fraud any less dramatic.....
Rosie Ruiz at the Boston Marathon
In the 1980 Boston Marathon, Rosie Ruiz became the fastest woman over 26 miles after finishing in just over two and a half hours. She looked remarkably fresh for someone who had just set a new world record. Ruiz insisted there was a simple reason: “I just got up this morning with a lot of energy.”
One of the greatest sporting cheats unravelled when it was discovered that no checkpoint officials or runners could remember even seeing her on the course.
Ruiz had actually taken the subway and hopped off for the last mile or so, exactly the same method she had used, undetected, in the New York Marathon. Not surprisingly, she was disqualified and became the butt of various quips including this from the Washington Post: “Instead of crying on National TV, she should have written a book, Shortcuts to Fame. It would start on Chapter 20.”
Donald Crowhurst in the Golden Globe Race
In 1968, Crowhurst set out to win the first non-stop Golden Globe solo race around the world. While radio reports suggested he was making good progress, Crowhurst had gone completely off course and was bobbing around the South Atlantic going nowhere fast.
He continued to sail across the Atlantic to the coast of South America where he would lie low and wait for the other competitors, including eventual winner Robin Knox-Johnston, to catch up. The 36-year-old spent hours carrying out complex mathematical calculations to maintain the deception.
Faced with exposure when it was clear that he would finish second, Crowhurst wrote 25,000 words of gibberish, concluding with the words: “I am what I am. I see the nature of my offence. It is finished. It is finished.” He then stepped into the Atlantic with the ship’s clock.
Boris 'The Cheat' Onischenko at the 1976 Olympics
A KGB Colonel, Onischenko became known as "DisOnischenko" after his performance at the fencing during the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Britons Adrian Parker and Jim Fox noticed that the Russian was scoring points even when his epee was missing.
Olympic officials examined the sword at Great Britain’s request, and discovered that it had a hidden trigger by which Onischenko could influence the electronic scoring system. The Soviet was disqualified, sent home in disgrace, and the rules were changed so that grips could not hide wires or switches.
Con Man Jonathan KernKern received notoriety in the sporting world for taking on the persona of Dr. Jonathan Palmer, ex-Formula 1 driver and commentator.
Kern ran up vast credit card bills on Palmer’s name before he was finally caught in 1999 and arrested for tricking Lotus into giving him a sports car which he used for a 2 month jolly around the Costa del Sol and French Riviera.
Kern was finally caught and sentenced to 3 years for deception. His father Cyril said: “My son and I have been estranged and have not spoken to each other for many years. When someone is 48 years old, there is very little one can do to control them.”
Robert Garside Runs Across the WorldGarside left Piccadilly Circus, London in December 1996 in a bid to run the first round-the-world journey ever. He maintained that he had covered 30,000 miles in 6 continents, traversing mountains, jungles, deserts, been shot at by gypsies in Russia, pelted with stones in India, jailed as a spy in China and pounced on by thieves in Panama.
When apparently “alone and heading up to the Amazon jungle”, Garside was actually seen sunbathing with former great train robber Ronnie Biggs at the Copacabana beach. Despite the controversies and scepticism that surrounded his online journal, Guiness World Records has authenticated the Briton's achievement.
Garside said: “There’s an expression in England. You can’t get anything in life without pissing a few people off.”
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