Chinese athletics vows action after half-marathon furor
The Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) has pledged to strengthen the supervision of its road-running events after video of Sunday’s Beijing half-marathon showed three runners appearing to slow down to allow China’s He Jie to overtake them and win.
He, last year’s Asian Games marathon gold medalist, won in a time of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 44 seconds. He was just one second ahead of Ethiopian Dejene Hailu Bikila and Kenyans Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat, who all tied for second place.
Videos shared online showed the three runners waving He, who was slightly behind them, in front and gesturing toward the finish line. All four had run together for the entire race.
Mnangat told the BBC that the trio ran as pacemakers and were not competing. However, their bibs did not indicate they were pacemakers, as is customary.
The Beijing Sports Bureau said that an investigation into the incident was under way and that the findings would be published later.
Long-distance and road running have surged in popularity among the middle class in China, but the Chinese Athletics Association said that had presented problems.
The association met on Tuesday and afterward issued a statement vowing to make improvements — without mentioning Sunday’s race.
“Since the spring of 2024 roadrunning events have been held across the country and people are enthusiastic about participating,” the association said. “Overall, the events have been running smoothly, but they have also exposed problems in event organization and management, which have aroused widespread social concern.”
“The meeting pointed out that the Chinese Athletics Association will further strengthen guidance and supervision of road-running events,” it said.