Rosie M. Vivas After immigrating to the United States, Ruiz was separated from her mother and lived with aunts, uncles, and cousins in Hollywood, Florida. In 1972, she graduated from South Broward High School and then attended Wayne State College in Nebraska. She graduated with a degree in music in 1977.

New York City Marathon

She moved to New York City in the 1970s, eventually finding work with Metal Traders, a commodities firm. In 1979, she qualified for the New York City Marathon and was credited with a time of 2:56:29, the 11th woman overall — enough for her to qualify for the Boston Marathon.

Ruiz's application for the NYC marathon arrived after the cut-off date for the race, but she received special dispensation from the New York Road Runners due to her claim that she was dying of brain cancer.

After the 1980 Boston Marathon, New York City Marathon officials investigated Ruiz's run and concluded that she cheated and did not run the entire course, so on April 25, 1980, she was retroactively disqualified from the race.

Freelance photographer Susan Morrow reported meeting her on the subway during the New York City Marathon and accompanying her from the subway to the race. She lost touch with Ruiz after that, but came forward when the news of Ruiz's dubious Boston win broke. According to Morrow, she met Ruiz on the subway and together they walked a distance to the finishing area, where Ruiz identified herself as an injured runner. She was escorted to a first aid station and volunteers marked her down as having completed the marathon, thus qualifying her for the Boston Marathon.

However, suspicions mounted about Ruiz almost from the beginning. Men's winner Bill Rodgers, who had just won his third straight Boston Marathon, noticed that Ruiz could not recall things that most runners would know by heart, such as her split times., revealing what many considered a suspicious lack of knowledge for an elite runner. Other observers noticed that Ruiz was not panting or coated in sweat, and her thighs were less lean and muscular than would be expected for a world-class runner. She later released stress-test results showing her resting heart rate as 76. Most female marathoners have a resting heart rate in the 50s or lower. Some female competitors thought it was odd that, when asked what she had noticed about the suburb of Wellesley while running through it, she did not mention the students of Wellesley College, who traditionally cheer loudly for the first female runners as they pass the campus.

Most seriously, no other runners could recall seeing her. Jacqueline Gareau was told that she was leading the race at the 18-mile mark, while Patti Lyons was told she was second at the 17-mile mark. Ruiz could not have passed either of them without being seen. Lyons was moved up to second; her time of 2:35:08 was the fastest ever recorded for an American woman in a marathon at that time.

During a CTV interview in July 2019, Gareau said that she felt pity for Ruiz, but had no ill feelings toward her. In an interview with the National Post, Gareau forgave Ruiz stating, "I forgave her completely. It's not a big thing for me".

Later life and death

In 1982, Ruiz was arrested for embezzling $60,000 () from a real estate company where she worked. She spent one week in jail and was sentenced to five years' probation. In January 1984, Ruiz married Aicaro Vivas, In April 1993, she was working in West Palm Beach as a client representative for a medical laboratory company.

As of 2000, she still maintained that she ran the entire 1980 Boston Marathon.

Ruiz died of cancer at age 66 on July 8, 2019, in Lake Worth Beach.

See also

  • Charles Moses (sprinter)
  • Moli Yeski Yusef

References

  • , video (French; 7:50 min)