After an hour of hard work, the four runners were barely separated as the finish line approached. But then one man reached out to the other man and made a gesture as if waving him forward. Seconds later, another runner did the same thing.
China’s He Jie then strode ahead of the rest of the pack during a live broadcast of Sunday’s Beijing Half Marathon. Three other players – Willy Mnangat and Robert Keter from Kenya, and Dejene Hailu from Ethiopia – followed closely behind, Not far behind, he won first place.
The outcome of the half-marathon is currently under investigation by race organizers after a video of the finish circulated online, leading many to question whether the three African runners were deliberately slowing down.
He finished first with a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 44 seconds. A second later, Mnangat, Kate and Hailu were tied for second.
The four athletes ran as a team for most of the race. live Performance was ahead of the rest, with the African players occasionally taking a slight lead.
But in the final moments of the game, both Mnangagte and Kate seemed to signal He Jiankui to run ahead of others, raising questions.
The Beijing International Running Festival, which hosted the event, said in a statement statement The company launched an investigation into the matter on Monday night in response to online commentators’ “questions about the outcome” of the contest, but did not name the contestant involved. The statement said organizers had set up a “special investigation team” to investigate the matter.
A spokesperson for the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau confirmed by phone on Tuesday morning that the bureau was also investigating the game.
He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Xtep, a sportswear company where he is a spokesman. Cote and Hailu could not immediately be reached for comment.
Mnangat told South China Morning Post His role is Ho’s pacemaker – someone who runs with other athletes to help them maintain speed, but is not an official competitor. Mnangagte did not immediately respond to a request for comment from his agent.
The 25-year-old ranks 77th among men’s marathoners globally, according to World Athletics. Last year, he won the Asian Games men’s marathon championship, and last month, he set a new Chinese national record in the Wuxi Marathon with a time of 2 hours, 06 minutes and 57 seconds.
As long-distance running gains popularity in China, this is not the first time Chinese distance runners have faced cheating accusations.
In 2018, 258 runners in the Shenzhen Half Marathon were punished for cheating, with organizers accusing them of wearing fake bib numbers, hiring impostors and taking shortcuts. according to Chinese state media.
In 2019, female runners were also caught riding bicycles at the Xuzhou International Marathon and Chengdu Women’s Half Marathon.
