Organisers of the Beijing half marathon are investigating allegations three African athletes intentionally allowed China’s star runner He Jie to win Sunday’s race.
Footage appeared to indicate Kenya’s Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat, and Ethiopia’s Dejene Hailu, pointing to the road and slowing down earlier than waving He previous.
Whereas the end result was extensively criticised on social media, Mnangat informed the BBC that the trio ran as pacemakers.
The Kenyan mentioned 4 runners had been contracted to assist He break the Chinese language half-marathon file of 1 hour, 2 minutes and 33 seconds and that one in every of them didn’t end the race.
He missed out on the file 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,” Mnangat mentioned.
“It was not a aggressive race for me.
“I do not know why they put my title 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 file.”
A spokesperson on the Beijing Sports activities Bureau informed AFP they have been investigating the incident.
“We’ll announce the outcomes to the general public as soon as they’re obtainable,” they mentioned.
Xstep, a Chinese language sports activities model that sponsored the occasion and has a contract with He, informed Chinese language state-owned The Paper: “The state of affairs remains to be being confirmed and verified by a number of events. Additional info will probably be communicated as quickly as doable.”
Not one of the different runners have commented on the incident.
China’s He received marathon gold on the 2023 Asian Video games in Hangzhou and is his nation’s file holder for the total marathon.
A press release from World Athletics mentioned the integrity of sport was their highest precedence.
“We’re conscious of the footage circulating on-line from the Beijing half marathon this weekend and perceive an investigation is presently being carried out by the related native authorities,” the assertion mentioned.
“The integrity of our sport is the very best precedence at World Athletics, whereas this investigation is ongoing we’re unable to supply additional remark.”
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