Kendall Schler looked suspiciously fresh as she finished ahead of the pack in this year’s St. Louis marathon. And with good reason: as Schler stood to have her winning photo taken with legendary runner Jackie Joyner-Kersee, she hadn’t run the marathon at all. Schler slipped into the race after the last checkpoint and cruised to “victory.” She cheated, as first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Officials say there is no record of Schler during the race. The story reminded many of Rosie Ruiz‘s faked victory in the 1980 Boston marathon. Schler, in fact, had automatically qualified for Boston with her St. Louis “victory.” She obviously loses that and the $1,500 prize, which goes to a more deserving party. The fiasco temporarily took the limelight away from the real winner, Andrea Karl. Karl told USA Today she’s not angry. That’s a good–and, not surprisingly, winning–attitude.
