A story that Notre Dame football star Manti Te'o's girlfriend had died of leukemia -- a loss he said inspired him to help lead the Irish to the BCS championship game -- was dismissed by the university Wednesday as a hoax perpetrated against the linebacker.

Manti Te'o (Getty Images)
Manti Te'o (Getty Images)
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Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick says his faith has not been shaken in Te'o "one iota."

Swarbrick says an investigation by a firm the school hired has convinced him that Te'o was duped into an online relationship with a woman whose death was then faked by the perpetrators of the hoax.

(Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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