MICHAEL FINCH, Johannesburg | Thursday 11.00am.
AN athlete who admitted cheating by running South Africa’s Comrades Marathon in relay with his brother, on Wednesday became the third runner disqualified from this year’s race.
Their plan was foiled only because photographs showed ninth placed finisher Sergio Motsoeneng wearing different watches at various stages of the race. Two other runners who finished in second and sixth places in the June 16 race were earlier disqualified after returning positive dope tests.
After the Johannesburg daily newspaper Beeld published pictures showing Motsoeneng wearing two different watches at different stages of the race, Motsoeneng’s lawyer contact the race’s Jury of Appeal chairperson Cheryll Winn admitting that he had cheated.
Motsoenengran the race as a relay with his older brother Sefako and ”finished” in 5 hours 40 minutes 20 seconds. Former gold medallist Nick Bester, who finished 15th, was the first to raise the alarm, but after investigating time sheets and the results of the computer timing system, the race referees initially cleared Motsoeneng of cheating.
Bester’s team mate Nic Schalkwyk appealed against the decision and soon afterwards the photographic evidence became available. ”If it wasn’t for the fact that he made a mistake with the watches, he probably would have got away with it,” Winn admitted on Tuesday. ”That’s really scary.”
As recently as Monday, Motsoeneng met with Winn to protest his innocence but with evidence mounting against him, he was advised by his lawyer to own up. ”We’ll have to start DNA testing every 10 kilometres, it’s getting so ridiculous,” Winn said. ”But maybe this will have a cleansing effect on the race, because he got caught.”
Motsoeneng, who had inherited the novice trophy after Russian Viktor Zhadanov was disqualified, has already made arrangements to return the trophy. ”Apparently he’s already spent the money,” Winn said. –Reuters