He Jie a Chinese marathon runner won the Beijing Half marathon that happened on Sunday however his win on the run has been put into question after three east African runners, 2 Kenyans and an Ethiopian seemed to deliberately pave way for He Jie’s win.
The allegations were stimulated by Chinese users on Weibo a social media platform whereby the shared video clip of the Chinese runners win seemed controversial.
In the footage, Kenyan athlete willy Mnangat can be seen turning to look at the Chinese runner and signals him to move ahead joining the east African trio and they run closely but a few meters to the finish line, Kenya’s 5km world record holder, Robert Keter, appears to gesture the Chinese runner to overtake them at the same time sending a signal to his Kenyan colleague and Ethiopia’s Dejene Hilu to slow down.
The Chinese runner crosses the finish line in 1:03:44 and the African trio trailing behind him just a second behind. The African runners can be seen in the footage congratulating He Jie and patting his back but the latter seemed less enthusiastic despite the fact that this was his first ever half marathon win.
Chinese online users on Weibo demanded for an investigation saying the organizers ought to be answerable for such actions and they should not taint the core of sporting spirit which fairness in competition.
The race organizers, the Beijing Municipal Sports and Chinese Athletics Association have addressed the issue in statement on Monday saying they attach great importance to the matter and thorough investigations will be done.
Chinese Marathon runner’s controversial win at the Beijing Half Marathon