Rutger Beke

Rutger Beke (pronounced "bay-kuh") (Halle, 8 August 1977) is a retired Belgian triathlete living in Leuven. 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 races, including five top five placings in the Ironman Hawaii.

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 contamination and that the substance identified by the laboratory as pharmaceutical EPO was, in fact, an unrelated protein indistinguishable from pharmaceutical EPO in the test method. He claimed, therefore, that the test had produced a false positive result in his case.

In 2007, he was the 5th Belgian who won an Ironman, together with Luc Van Lierde, Dirk van Gossum, Marino Vanhoenacker 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 Ironman Florida 2003: 2nd in Ironman Hawaii 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 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