As Told by a Contributor
In 1999, during the ninetieth edition of the Comrades Marathon Africa, runner Sergio Motsoeneng crossed the finish line in ninth place
He was about to receive the $10,000 prize offered to the top ten finishers, when the first complaints began to arrive. Some runners claimed that Sergio had never passed them and were suspicious of the man’s muscular relaxation despite having run a good 89 km.
Furthermore, many witnesses claimed to have seen him abandon the race several times and then return.
The first investigations began and from the photos inspected, some discordant elements immediately appeared: each time the athlete returned for the marathon, the watch was on a different wrist, first on the right, then on the left, then on the right again and then on the left again.
Comparing the images more closely, despite a cap pulled down tightly over his face, some differences in the features of his face and a scar on his right shin that sometimes mysteriously disappeared.
There is no longer any doubt about it, the race was rigged and Motsoeneng can only confess: his twin brother Fika was also running with him. Every 45 minutes the two would swap places and, while one ran, the other would precede him on his bike and then be found at the next step to resume the race in place of his brother. They would sneak into a chemical toilet where the other was waiting and exchange hats, shoes and bibs, all repeated several times along the route.
Once discovered, they were immediately disqualified, the two were stripped of their prize money and banned from participating in any ultramarathon for over five years.