Turkmenistan Prez 'Wins' Auto Race

He enters at last minute and, surprise, surprise, is the victor
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 7, 2012 7:20 AM CDT
Turkmenistan Prez 'Wins' Auto Race
Turkmenistan President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov drives a Bugatti sports in the capital, Ashgabat.   (AP Photo)

US presidents like to throw out the first pitch at baseball games, but Turkmenistan President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov takes sport to a whole new level, coming in first in a Turkmenistan car race today. Driving a Turkish-made Volkicar. In a race he wasn't even scheduled to enter. Well, that's the official story, anyway. The AP calls the race "apparently choreographed," the latest chapter in fitness-obsessed Berdymukhamedov's growing mythology. But winning a race probably comes easy to a man who just won re-election in February with 97% support. (More Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov stories.)

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