My daughter sent an article with the caption, "Do you think the US press could have gotten away with this politically incorrect phrase?" A 65 yr. old Mexican politician, nicknamed "Speedy Gonzalez" by the press, was accused of cheating during the Berlin marathon. He claims he never intended to run the entire length and stopped after 21K. He was then directed to the judging stand to collect his participation medal but was recognized as a winner in his age group. He said there were language problems. I am inclined to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I worked with a young nurse who went to Switzerland on her honeymoon. She and her new husband entered a cross-country ski race. She liked to ski, but was not a marathon-like competitor. There were cheering fans lining the course ringing those cowbells that got the adrenaline going. The scenary was great, the track fast. Officials with flags directed skiers at the turns. She was astonished to hear the crowd cheer as she crossed the finish line. She had won the race! They photographed Jesse with her bouquet of roses or whatever they give winners. Pretty heady stuff. Not many were speaking English. When her husband finished much later than her, she began to question the results. They had about the same abilities. It turned out an official had directed her to turn at one intersection that greatly shortened her race. It took a while to relay this information to the judges because of a language problem. She finally got across that she had not run the whole course. It took a little longer to disceminate the information to everyone. When she got back she showed us a news story online about the American woman on her honeymoon who won the race. And to think she did this without benefit of steroids or flax seed oil. (My husband and I are taking flax seed everyday, maybe I should enter a cross-country ski race this winter.)
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