Politician issues comment on race

MEXICO CITY – A Mexican politician stripped of his age-group title in a marathon after apparently taking a shortcut said Wednesday he never intended to complete the race and simply went to the finish line to collect his belongings.

Roberto Madrazo, who finished a distant third in Mexico’s 2006 presidential election, was lampooned around the world after photographs and video footage showed him running across the finish line pumping his arms and grinning in the Sept. 30 Berlin marathon.

After a race photographer noted Madrazo finished the marathon wearing a jacket and long running tights and barely sweating, officials opened an investigation and eventually disqualified his age-55 category win.

Madrazo broke a week of silence, issuing a statement in which he said the allegations of him cheating were nothing more than political attacks meant to discredit his sporting career and his as-yet-unlaunched foundation, Marathon: A Foundation for Competition.

“I never declared myself the winner in Berlin with the time distributed by the media nor did I receive any medal for the alleged first place,” Madrazo said.

He didn’t explain, however, why he crossed the finish line running with the rest of the participants or why he didn’t alert race officials that he hadn’t run the whole course.

Madrazo said he was never trying to fool anyone.