Brazen Brazilian, 76, won three M85 golds at Porto Alegre worlds
For at least five seasons leading up to Porto Alegre worlds, Francisco do Carmo Oliveira of Brazil competed with a claimed date of birth of June 8, 1927. That meant he was M85 at his home country’s 2013 world meet. But in a comment posted Friday, Italian statmeister Luigi Fasolato reported that Francisco was a fraud — found to have a DOB of June 8, 1937. Oops. Brazil banned him from competition and stripped Francisco of his national records, Luigi says and his affiliate confirms. So like, HOW THE BLEEPIN’ HELL DID THIS HAPPEN? The host country has some splaining to do. (And could that have been a factor in the holdup of the results booklet?) Has Portugal’s Jose Canelo been sent three gold medals? Jose was runner-up to Frankie in the 800, 1500 and 5000. Lots of questions: How was the fraudster found out? How come WMA hasn’t reported this? Who vetted his world age-group records? How did he get away with this? Stay tuned.
South American masters officials threw the book at the Brazilian.
Here are Fraudman’s results from 2013 worlds, gleaned from posted (and still uncorrected) WMA results:
Event 341 M85 400 Meter Dash
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WMA: # 1:20.46 10/26/2013 Yoshiyuki Shimizu, Brazil
Name Age Team Finals
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1 Shimizu, Yoshiyuki M85 Brazil 1:20.46#
2 Oliveira, Francisco do C M86 Brazil 1:23.36
3 Torres Rosa, Luis M85 Puerto Rico 1:40.69
4 Sinclair, James M89 Australia 1:44.50
5 Maedo, Seijun M85 Brazil 1:46.33
6 Radu, Dumitru M86 Romania 3:08.51
Event 354 M85 800 Meter Run
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85 WMA: # 3:17.45 10/21/2013 Francisco do Carmo Oliveira
Name Age Team Finals
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1 Oliveira, Francisco do C M86 Brazil 3:17.45#
2 Canelo, Jose M89 Portugal 4:06.54
3 Torres Rosa, Luis M85 Puerto Rico 4:08.63
4 Maedo, Seijun M85 Brazil 4:23.72
5 Leovic, Radovan M86 Australia 4:45.22
6 Radu, Dumitru M86 Romania 6:48.48
Event 371 M85 1500 Meter Run
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85 WMA: # 6:37.75 10/26/2013 Francisco do Carmo Oliveira
Name Age Team Finals
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1 Oliveira, Francisco do C M86 Brazil 6:37.75#
2 Canelo, Jose M89 Portugal 8:30.30
3 Maedo, Seijun M85 Brazil 9:21.98
— Torres Rosa, Luis M85 Puerto Rico DNF
Event 383 M85 5000 Meter Run
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85 WMA: # 24:51.70
Name Age Team Finals
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1 Oliveira, Francisco do C M86 Brazil 25:45.09
2 Canelo, Jose M89 Portugal 31:16.06
3 Leovic, Radovan M86 Australia 43:06.06
— Torres Rosa, Luis M85 Puerto Rico DQ
Event 452 M80 4×100 Meter Relay
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80 WMA: # 1:01.83
Munoz Tobar, Rodriguez, Standen, Sepulveda Vera
Team Finals
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1 Chile 1:15.90
1) Munoz Tobar, Salvador Enrique 8 2) Rodriguez, Edmundo 82
3) Standen, Ariel 84 4) Sepulveda Vera, Manuel 81
2 Brazil 1:19.90
1) Oliveira, Francisco do Carmo 86 2) Bonfim, Airton Rosa 80
3) Cunha, Joao de Jesus 80 4) Shimizu, Yoshiyuki 85
3 Germany 1:21.90
1) Paulus, Josef 80 2) Hoppe, Felix 83
3) Schwankner, Josef 81 4) Kaleve, Helmut 80
Mastersathletics.net lists Francisco’s 1927 DOB in the all-time rankings of the 800 and 1500. Here are the 800s. Here are the 1500s.
One Response
37 years ago when I was a new 40 year old runner and had run 52.5 and 23.5 and was among the top 10 in both events. I was planning on going to the Nationals later that summer. I went to a big meet at UC Irvine where a guy I had never seen or read about before ran 50.8 and 22.3. I was flabbergasted. And decided not to go to Nationals because I figured there must be 2 or 3 others like this guy who would be there. Later that summer he was discovered to be a fraud and was banned into disgrace. How was he discovered? A friend of his went to work and tol another workmate that he had seen this guy run that fast as a 40 year old. The other guy said, “He’s not 40.” “How do you know that?” said the workmate and the other guy said, “He and I are the same exact ago because we have the same birthdate. We used to go out for a few drinks on our birthdays every year. He’s 33, just like me” Someone knew someone who worked for the DMV in Sacramento, they checked his license and, sure enough, he was 33. A birth certificate was checked and he was 33. He was confronted with the info, confessed, and was banned.
Another story. A well to do CEO of a large company suddenly appeared on the running scene and started breaking records. Someone on the USATF committee in San Diego thought there was something fishy about this runner. He Entered the AFC half marathon. The USATF placed people along each mile of the course to look for his number as he passed by. He was there for the first three miles, then disappeared and reappeared for the last two miles and went on to win his age group with another record. He was confronted with the information, denied everything but never ran in competition again. Yes, there are cheaters out there, more than you would think. You’ve just got love the sport for the fun of training, competition and the people you meet along the way.
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