then he went to LA marathon where he wasn't banned, but had to run with an observer, and still ran without an observer to set the world record in his age group...
Did posters just stopped reading articles on HN?
Where does it mention hard evidence of cheating before his death? Suspicious splits are not evidence. Not running with an observer is just that.
I get that people get mad at cheaters but without evidence it's unfair to harrass people. Even asking them to "prove" their ability is harrasment. That's all.
>In 2015 the L.A. Marathon must have noticed something fishy because officials asked him to run with an observer in the future. But when he returned in 2017, he ran alone, the observer idea apparently forgotten. He also ran solo in 2018 and 2019.
>So Murphy and the LetsRun crew grumbled when the L.A. Marathon announced in early June that it would not disqualify Meza from the 2019 race. >Instead, officials would ask him—again—to run with an observer next time around. “This is the best solution for all,” they told Murphy.
They're literally begging the guy to stop cheating so they don't have to ban him, and the guys does a world record. It's beyond ridiculous.
Instead of admitting it, he kills himself. I'm sorry, the whole story is tragic, but obviously this guy's problems went far beyond evil posters on letsrun, as awful as that site is.
But in itself, running without an observer is not cheating when it comes to finish time. It may be a violation of the race rules, but that's it.
Suspicious? Yes. Ridiculous? Yes. Direct evidence of cheating before his death? Nope. I don't see that in the article.
My dislike of the accusations and harrasment basically come down to this: would this hold up in court? I think it would not.
From the article: On July 3 a LetsRun user posted a photo with the comment: “Frank on a bike?” The image, taken by an official photographer during the 2014 San Francisco Marathon, showed a blurry figure riding a bicycle down the sidewalk. His face was obscured, but his outfit—a black cap, a gray long-sleeve shirt, Nike Zoom Marathoners, green socks—resembled what Meza was pictured wearing at the end of the race. When I sat down with the family and we examined the photo together, they denied that it was Meza. “It looks like someone photoshopped this,” Lorena said, pointing to the shoes. Plus, this man was wearing black athletic pants with a white stripe. “You don’t run a marathon in sweats,” Tina said.
From the final paragraph: Late on July 4, while word of Meza’s death was starting to circulate, a LetsRun user posted one last series of photos from the 2014 San Francisco Marathon. In each the Golden Gate Bridge looms in the background. And there is Meza, unmistakably, hanging out by a timing mat as other runners blow past him. He wears a familiar outfit: the hat, the shoes, the socks—and long black pants with a white stripe.
It's oddly non-prominent, but I think the article does present direct evidence of his cheating. It's not logical proof, and I don't know if it's the right standard, but with the right prosecution lawyer I think it probably would be enough to convince a jury in court.