Rutger Beke (pronounced "bay-kuh") ( Halle, 8 August 1977) is a retired

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the d ...

living in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

. Beke competed for the Uplace Pro Triathlon Team until he announced his retirement from professional triathlon on 31 May 2011. Rutger Beke started competing in the sport of triathlon when he was 17. He performed well in several

Ironman Iron Man, Ironman or Ironmen may refer to: *Nathaniel "Iron Man" Avery (1939–1985), American caddie for Arnold Palmer *Travis Fulton (1977–2021), American mixed martial arts fighter *Gunnar Graps (1951–2004), Estonian musician *Mick Murphy ...

races, including five top five placings in the

Ironman Hawaii The Ironman World Championship has been held annually in Hawaii since 1978, with an additional race in 1982. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. It is the annual culmination of a series of Ironman triathlon qualification ...

. Beke became well-known because of his alleged EPO use. In 2004, he was tested positive in both his A- and B-sample for EPO. He was suspended from competition for 18 months. In August 2005, the Commission reversed its decision and exonerated him based on scientific and medical information presented by Beke. He asserted that his sample had become degraded as a result of

bacterial Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...

contamination Contamination is the presence of a constituent, impurity, or some other undesirable element that spoils, corrupts, infects, makes unfit, or makes inferior a material, physical body, natural environment, workplace, etc. Types of contamination W ...

and that the substance identified by the laboratory as pharmaceutical EPO was, in fact, an unrelated

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, respo ...

indistinguishable from pharmaceutical EPO in the test method. He claimed, therefore, that the test had produced a

false positive A false positive is an error in binary classification in which a test result incorrectly indicates the presence of a condition (such as a disease when the disease is not present), while a false negative is the opposite error, where the test result ...

result in his case. In 2007, he was the 5th Belgian who won an Ironman, together with

Luc Van Lierde Luc Van Lierde (born 14 April 1969 in Bruges) is a former athlete from Belgium, who has been competing in triathlon since 1990 and who has been a professional triathlon coach since 2009. Athletic career Van Lierde's international career started ...

, Dirk van Gossum,

Marino Vanhoenacker Marino Vanhoenacker (born 19 July 1976 in Ostend) is a Belgian triathlete. On 3 July 2011, he set a world best time for Ironman full distance triathlon at the Ironman Triathlon at Klagenfurt in Austria, finishing after 7 hours, 45 mi ...

and Gerrit Schellens.

Results

* 2000: 1st in Belgian Olympic distance triathlon * 2001: 1st in Belgian Olympic distance triathlon * 2002: 1st in Belgian long distance triathlon * 2002: 3rd in ITU World Championships - Nice * 2003: 1st in Belgian Olympic distance triathlon * 2003: 1st in Belgian long distance triathlon * 2003: 3rd in

Florida * 2003: 2nd in

* 2003: 2nd in ITU World Championships - Ibiza * 2003: 2nd in Ironman Hawaii * 2004: 1st in Belgian Olympic distance triathlon * 2004: 5th in Ironman Hawaii * 2005: 1st in

Ironman 70.3 An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The "70.3" refers to the total distance in miles (113.0 km) covered in the race, consisting o ...

Monaco * 2005: 4th in Ironman Hawaii * 2006: 4th in Ironman Hawaii * 2007: 1st in Ironman Arizona * 2007: 898th in Ironman Hawaii * 2008: 3rd in Ironman Hawaii * 2009: 1st in Ironman Cozumel

References

External links

Uplace Pro Triathlon Team web site

Rutger Beke's personal web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beke, Rutger Belgian male triathletes 1977 births Living people People from Halle, Belgium Sportspeople from Flemish Brabant