Organisers of the Beijing half marathon are investigating allegations that three African athletes intentionally allowed China’s star runner He Jie to win Sunday’s race.
Footage appeared, external to point out Kenya’s Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat and Ethiopia’s Dejene Hailu pointing to the road and slowing down earlier than waving previous He, 25.
The end result was criticised by some Chinese language social media customers.
Mnangat has advised BBC Sport Africa that the trio ran as pacemakers.
The Kenyan mentioned 4 runners had been contracted to assist He break the Chinese language half-marathon report of 1 hour two minutes 33 seconds, and that one among them didn’t end the race.
He missed out on the report with a time of 1:03:44, one second forward of the trio, who tied for second place.
“I used to be not there to compete,” mentioned Mnangat. “It was not a aggressive race for me.”
A spokesperson on the Beijing Sports activities Bureau advised AFP they have been investigating the incident, including: “We are going to announce the outcomes to the general public as soon as they’re out there.”
Xstep, a Chinese language sports activities model who sponsored the occasion and have a contract with He, advised Chinese language state-owned The Paper:, external “The scenario remains to be being confirmed and verified by a number of events. Additional data will probably be communicated as quickly as potential.”
Mnangat added: “I do not know why they put my identify on my bib/chest quantity as an alternative of labelling it as a pacemaker.
“My job was to set the tempo and assist the man win however sadly, he didn’t obtain the goal, which was to interrupt the nationwide report.”
Not one of the different runners have commented on the incident but.
China’s He gained marathon gold on the 2023 Asian Video games in Hangzhou and is his nation’s report holder for the total marathon.
A press release from World Athletics to BBC Sport mentioned: “We’re conscious of the footage circulating on-line from the Beijing half marathon this weekend and perceive an investigation is presently being performed by the related native authorities.
“The integrity of our sport is the best precedence at World Athletics, whereas this investigation is ongoing we’re unable to supply additional remark.”
Customers of Chinese language social media web site Weibo have posted concerning the race, with a remark saying “that is little doubt probably the most embarrassing title of He Jie’s profession” receiving greater than 1,000 likes.
One other submit added: “With such a serious organiser and such a widely known occasion, this actually pushes sportsmanship to the bottom in disgrace.”
