Medals and prizes stripped over farce at half-marathon

Winner He Jie and African trio penalised for their roles in the contrived finish for race in Beijing

The organisers of last weekend’s Beijing Half-Marathon have stripped winner He Jie and three other athletes of their medals and prize money following the race’s controversial ending.

Several companies involved in the running and promotion of the event have also been punished, losing contracts for future editions of the race, officials said.

A race committee has been investigating last Sunday’s incident ever since video emerged showing Kenyan athletes Willy Mnangat and Robert Keter, plus Ethiopia’s Dejene Hailu Bikila, moving aside within sight of the finish line to let He win.

He broke the tape in one hour, three minutes and 44 seconds, a second ahead of Bikila, Keter and Mnangat. Mnangat initially said he let the Chinese athlete overtake “because he is my friend”, but later claimed to have been hired as a pacer, even though he was not wearing anything identifying him as one.

“I was not there to compete,” Mnangat said. “My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record.”

But the official race result listed Bikila, Keter and Mnangat in second, third and fourth, respectively. All three were listed as athletes, and the committee said pacers would not have been allowed to take part as specially invited athletes without approval from the organisers.

It said the African runners “actively slowed down in the last two kilometres and as a result He Jie won the men’s championship”. All trophies, medals and bonuses would be withdrawn and the athletes reported to the Chinese Athletics Association.

A statement did not acknowledge whether the race was rigged, but contained an apology. “We deeply and sincerely apologise to the world and to every part of society, that we did not discover and correct the mistakes in time at this race,” the committee said.

Race operator, the Zhongao Lupao Beijing Sports Management company, would also be disqualified from hosting and operating the event, the committee added. The management company said its partner and race sponsor Xiamen Xtep Investment, a unit of Hong Kong-listed Xtep International Holdings, failed to note the relevant pacer information, which led to the organising committee not being told.

Xtep, which lists He as a contracted spokesman, would be “cancelled as a partner of the competition, instructed to apologise to the public and required to severely deal with the relevant responsible people”, officials said.

The sportswear firm yesterday issued a comprehensive apology and said staff had made a mistake in the registration process and did not identify the pacers. “We bear significant responsibility for this incident and fully accept the penalties imposed.”

We deeply apologise ... that we did not discover and correct the mistakes in time BEIJING HALF-MARATHON ORGANISERS