Athletics
The top four in the Beijing half marathon will have to hand over their medals after an investigation into the controversial finish. Three African athletes deliberately let China’s He Jie win.
After the dubious final of the Beijing half marathon, the four lose their medals. The organizers of the race decided this after examining the images of the last meters. It shows that the Kenyans Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat and the Ethiopian Dejene Hailu Bikila suddenly slowed down and allowed the Chinese He Jie to cross the line first.
Mnangat told BBC Africa Sport that the trio served as pacers during the race. But according to the race’s organizing committee, the Africans were not officially registered as pacers for He Jie. As a result, they violated the competition rules. The four runners must hand in their trophies, medals and bonuses.
National record
Mnangat explains that four runners were hired to help He Jie break the Chinese half-marathon record, which stands at 1 hour, 2 minutes and 33 seconds. One of the runners did not reach the finish line. “I didn’t participate to win,” says the Kenyan. “It wasn’t a competitive race for me.” According to him, his bib number should not have had his name on it, but “pace”, as is customary for pacers.
“My job was to set the pace of the race and help He Jie win. Unfortunately, he did not achieve his goal and therefore did not break the national record.” The Chinese ultimately fell a full minute short of breaking the record, with a time of 1:03:44. The Africans finished one second later and shared second place. He Jie already won gold in the marathon at the Asian Games in 2023 and is the record holder for the full marathon in China.
