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| Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o in bizarre hoax | Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o in bizarre hoax |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A US college football star is in the spotlight for the wrong reasons after his story of a girlfriend who died of cancer turned out to be a bizarre hoax. | |
| Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, 21, said her death had inspired him to lead his Indiana team on its march to the national championship game. | Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o, 21, said her death had inspired him to lead his Indiana team on its march to the national championship game. |
| But he stunned the sporting world on Wednesday night by admitting that his partner, Lennay Kekua, never existed. | But he stunned the sporting world on Wednesday night by admitting that his partner, Lennay Kekua, never existed. |
| Notre Dame said the player had been duped by an online and phone romance. | Notre Dame said the player had been duped by an online and phone romance. |
| The hoax was revealed hours after a sports website, Deadspin.com, posted an investigative report stating that it could find no record Kekua had ever existed, while noting numerous inconsistencies in the story. | The hoax was revealed hours after a sports website, Deadspin.com, posted an investigative report stating that it could find no record Kekua had ever existed, while noting numerous inconsistencies in the story. |
| 'Sick joke' | 'Sick joke' |
| She was said to have been a 22-year-old Stanford University graduate who had been in a serious car accident in California, before being diagnosed with leukaemia. | She was said to have been a 22-year-old Stanford University graduate who had been in a serious car accident in California, before being diagnosed with leukaemia. |
| Kekua was said to have died within hours of Te'o's real-life grandmother, who passed away on 11 September after a long illness. | Kekua was said to have died within hours of Te'o's real-life grandmother, who passed away on 11 September after a long illness. |
| But Deadspin said that it could find no official record of Kekua's death and that Stanford had no record of anybody by that name attending the university. | But Deadspin said that it could find no official record of Kekua's death and that Stanford had no record of anybody by that name attending the university. |
| In a statement, Te'o said he had been the victim of a "sick joke", but he did not say whether he had ever met Kekua in person, nor did he correct media reports that he had met her. | In a statement, Te'o said he had been the victim of a "sick joke", but he did not say whether he had ever met Kekua in person, nor did he correct media reports that he had met her. |
| "This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online," said the statement. | "This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online," said the statement. |
| "We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her." | "We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her." |
| He added: "To realise that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating. In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious." | He added: "To realise that I was the victim of what was apparently someone's sick joke and constant lies was, and is, painful and humiliating. In retrospect, I obviously should have been much more cautious." |
| Unnerving phone call | |
| Notre Dame apparently knew about the hoax as far back as 26 December but kept the information private ahead of the national championship game this month. | |
| In a press conference on Wednesday, Notre Dame Athletic Director Jack Swarbrick said Te'o told his coaches last month he had received a call from Kekua's phone number earlier in December. | |
| "When he answered it, it was a person whose voice sounded like the same person he had talked to, who told him that she was, in fact, not dead," Mr Swarbrick said. | |
| "Manti was very unnerved by that, as you might imagine." | |
| Notre Dame then hired investigators, who reported that multiple individuals had discussed the deception online. | |
| For Te'o, Mr Swarbrick said, "the grief was real. The affection was real." | |
| He added Notre Dame had not released the investigation report before Deadspin's story because the school had "no idea of motive". | |
| Notre Dame lost the championship game to the University of Alabama on 7 January, and Te'o is now preparing for the NFL draft. | |
| Meanwhile, friends and relatives of a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo told Deadspin they believe he created Kekua, and social media accounts suggest Te'o and Mr Tuiasosopo know one other. | |
| The website found Twitter and Instagram accounts registered to Lennay Kekua that feature pictures from a 22-year-old California woman who did not know her pictures were being used. | |
| Those pictures were used in various media stories about Te'o. |