A South African gold medallist in the Comrades ultra-marathon on June 16th has confessed that his identical brother helped him to run the gruelling 89.9 km (56-mile) race.

Sergio Motsoeneng said he managed to take ninth place because his 19-year-old brother Finka secretly donned his race outfit and ran in his place for part of the race.

Motsoeneng owned up after the Johannesburg-based newspaper Beeld published pictures of the Motsoeneng brothers wearing the same race number across their chest but clearly different wrist watches.

Motsoeneng's lawyer said the unemployed 21-year-old had cheated as he came from a large, poor family and was desperate for the prize-money a good placing brings.

He said Motsoeneng had already sent his 6,000 rand (£770 approximately) race earnings home to his father who has 11 children. "He was on the verge of selling his solid Comrades gold medal for 500 rand (£61) to help support the family," he said.

This year's Comrades has been mired in scandal. The initial runner-up, Russia's Viktor Zhdanov, and sixth-placed Mahlala Mohloli were stripped of their medals after testing positive for banned substances.