{"id":385169,"date":"2024-04-15T23:13:07","date_gmt":"2024-04-15T23:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=385169"},"modified":"2024-04-16T01:03:52","modified_gmt":"2024-04-16T01:03:52","slug":"chinese-race-under-fire-for-extremely-odd-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=385169","title":{"rendered":"Chinese race under fire for 'extremely odd' moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

K\ufeffenyan runners Willy Mnangat and Robert Keter are under investigation for allowing a Chinese competitor to cross the line before them in the Beijing Half Marathon.<\/p>\n

In a bizarre moment at the end of the gruelling race, \ufeffKeter and Mnangat – along with Ethiopia's Dejene Hailu Bikila – allowed He Jie to win, despite trailing behind the trio.<\/p>\n

Mnangat gestured towards Jie to run past him and the other two runners obliged, allowing the Chinese runner to take out the event on home soil.<\/p>\n

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According to the Kenyan, he allowed his rival to win because of their friendship.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\ufeff"He comes to Kenya and I was [pacing for him] in the Wuxi Marathon, so he is my friend," Mnangant said post-race.<\/p>\n

However, \ufeffan investigation into the incident has since been launched.<\/p>\n

"We are aware of the footage circulating online from the Beijing Half Marathon and understand an investigation is currently being conducted by the relevant local authorities," World Athletics said in a statement.<\/p>\n

"The integrity of our sport is the highest priority at World Athletics. While this investigation is ongoing we are unable to provide further comment."<\/p>\n

The finish to the race has sparked plenty of reaction online, with Chinese sports expert Mark Dreyer taking to social media to express his disbelief over the lack of integrity.<\/p>\n

"This is extremely odd," he said via X.<\/p>\n

"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?"<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/DreyerChina\/status\/1779502737799188708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

Dreyer also claimed there could have been extra pay guaranteed for the Kenyan runners to allow Jie to win the race.<\/p>\n

"Very common for African pro runners to compete in top provincial races around China \u2013 but highly unusual they would let a Chinese runner win so obviously," he said on X.<\/p>\n

"[The] most obvious explanation here is that race fees for the Africans were guaranteed and\/or a bonus was offered for letting the local runner win."<\/p>\n

Jie is the \ufeffreigning Asian Games marathon champion. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

K\ufeffenyan runners Willy Mnangat and Robert Keter are under investigation for allowing a Chinese competitor to cross the line before them in the Beijing Half […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":385175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385169"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=385169"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385169\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385178,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385169\/revisions\/385178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/385175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=385169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=385169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=385169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}