Organizers of the Beijing Half Marathon are investigating the 2024 race's finish after video surfaced showing three runners slowing down near the finish line. As the three men slowed down, Chinese runner He Jie passed them to win the race.
As He approached the finish line of the 13.1-mile race on Sunday, it appeared as though at least one of the runners waved him to go ahead of them.
This is extremely odd. Three Kenyans in today's Beijing Half Marathon clearly let China's He Jie - current Asian Games marathon champion - win the race, all the while coasting themselves, waving him through and congratulating him after the race. Appears to be a tacit agreement? https://t.co/aNqgDqf1IG
— Mark Dreyer (@DreyerChina) April 14, 2024
He finished the Beijing Half Marathon with a time of 1:03:44, while Dejene Hailu Bikila (Ethiopia), Robert Keter (Kenya), and Willy Mnangat (Kenya) all finished in second place with a time of 1:03:45.
Mnangat told The South China Morning Post that he let He win because the two are friends. However, Mnangat stated that he wasn't informed to do so and wasn't given any money to let He win.
According to NBC News, the Beijing Sports Bureau revealed that the incident had its "utmost attention," and that the results of this investigation would be "disclosed to the public."
He is planning to compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer, and set a national record of 2:06:57 in a recent marathon in Wuxi, China in March. According to Chinese tabloid "Global Times," this was the first half marathon that He participated in.
"I just finished the Wuxi Marathon not long ago, so I was not in my best competitive state," He said. "If I had been in the same condition as during the Wuxi race, I believe my performance would have been better."
In recent years, cheating has become an issue in China when it comes to long-distance running. Back in 2018, Shenzhen Half Marathon organizers stated that 258 competitors were caught cheating when they wore fake racing bibs and took shortcuts throughout the race.
