MEXICO CITY -- After a humiliating defeat in Mexico's

presidential election last year, Roberto Madrazo appeared to be

back on top: He'd won the men's age-55 category in the Sept. 30

Berlin Marathon with a surprising time of 2:41:12.

But Madrazo couldn't leave his reputation for shady dealings in

the dust. Race officials said Monday they disqualified him for

apparently taking a shortcut -- an electronic tracking chip

indicates he skipped two checkpoints in the race and would have

needed superhuman speed to achieve his win.

According to the chip, Madrazo took only 21 minutes to cover

nine miles -- faster than any human can run. "Not even the world

record holder can go that fast,'' race director Mark Milde said.

In a photograph taken as he crossed the finish line, Madrazo

wears an ear-to-ear grin and pumps his arms in the air. But he also

wore a wind breaker, hat and long, skintight running pants -- too

much clothing, some said, for a person who had just run 26.2 miles

in 60-degree weather.

Madrazo's outfit caught the attention of the New York-based

marathon photographer Victor Sailer, who alerted race organizers

that they might have a cheater on their hands.

"It was so obvious to me, if you look at everyone else that's

in the picture, everyone's wearing T-shirts and shorts, and the

guy's got a jacket on and a hat or whatever,'' Sailer said. "I

looked at it and was like, wait a second.''

The world record for 15 kilometers -- the distance Madrazo

covered in 21 minutes -- is 41 minutes 29 seconds, by Felix Limo of

Kenya.

At a Mexico City taxi stand on Monday, drivers Octavio Elizalde

Cerrillo and Roberto Valle Rivera poked fun at Madrazo's troubles.

They, like other Mexicans their age, lived under decades of

uninterrupted rule by Madrazo's Institutional Revolutionary Party,

which often resorted to fraud to win elections, leaving many deeply

distrustful of politicians.

"If he's a cheat at one thing, he'll cheat at anything,'' said

Valle Rivera, 44.

"If you're going to steal, you'll steal here, in the United

States, in Europe, everywhere in the world,'' Elizalde Cerrillo,

41, added with a smile.

Madrazo's reputation at home was already tarnished. In 1996,

Mexico's attorney general confirmed reports that he had spent tens

of millions of dollars more than the legal campaign spending limit

in his winning 1994 bid for the Tabasco state governorship.

While under investigation on those charges, Madrazo told police

he was kidnapped for seven hours, beaten and threatened with death

by unidentified assailants. Police couldn't find evidence of any

such abduction, and many saw it as a sympathy ploy.

During the 2006 presidential campaign, opponents plastered walls

with posters reading, "Do you believe Madrazo? I don't either!''

In June, Madrazo completed the San Diego marathon with a time of

3:44:06, more than an hour slower than his time in Berlin, Mexican

newspaper Reforma reported. Madrazo's office did not return phone

calls from The Associated Press.

Race director Milde noted that Madrazo may have intended to drop

out and taken a shortcut to reach the start-finish area.

"I don't know if it was his intention or accidental: I try to

believe in the good of people,'' Milde said. But the fact that

Madrazo appears to be celebrating in the photograph could go

against this theory, he added.

Some 32,500 people finished the race and about 40 are

disqualified every year, Milde said.