2024-04-20 11:17:52
04/20/2024
He Jie, who won China’s first gold medal in the men’s marathon at the Asian Games in 2023, was deliberately denied the championship by three foreign runners at the Beijing Half Marathon held last Sunday. All four were disqualified from the competition and had their trophies, medals and bonuses taken away.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Beijing Half Marathon held last Sunday (April 14)marathonDuring the competition, Chinese player He Jie was suspected of being deliberately “pushed away” by three foreign players while near the finish line, causing controversy.
After investigating the matter, the event organizing committee made a decision on Friday, April 19: Chinese player He Jie and three foreign players were disqualified from the competition, and the companies involved, China Olympic Road Run ( Beijing) and Xiamen, were dismissed. Xtep partnership.
A video showing suspected cheating has circulated on the Internet. It can be seen: just a few hundred meters from the finish line, Kenyan players Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat, who were originally in the lead, and Ethiopian player Hai Lu (Dejene Hailu) seemed to deliberately slow down, and one of them even stretched out his hand to stop the other two players, jointly moving He Jie to the left side of the road, more suitable for sprinting. He Jie finally crossed the finish line first and won the championship by 1 second.
The four runners ran a little over 21 kilometers through the streets of Beijing.
Chinese media reported that according to the decision, the competition results of He Jie and the three foreign players involved were canceled, and the trophies, medals and bonuses were recovered; the Beijing Sports Competition Management and International Exchange Center was informed and criticized. After the investigation decision was released, Zhongao Road Running Company and Xtep Company respectively issued apologetic statements.
Are African athletes “leaders”?
At the Hangzhou Asian Games in October 2023, He Jie won the men’s marathon championship, winning the Chinese athletics team’s first gold medal in the men’s marathon in the history of the Asian Games. According to reports, He Jie is a contracted athlete of Xtep. The three foreign players also wore Xtep brand sportswear during their participation in this competition.
Mnangagte told the BBC that he and two other African runners were leaders, although their jerseys did not indicate this.
Investigation results from the Beijing Half Marathon Organizing Committee said Xtep failed to clearly mark runners, leading China-Ao Road Running Company to fail to report their actions to the Beijing Half Marathon organizing committee. organization and to register four foreign runners as specially invited athletes. near the finish line therefore violated the race regulations.
The marathon has a huge mass base in China
China Central Television said in a separate report Friday that the Chinese Athletics Association later responded that it would “start with institutional regulations to further strengthen the supervision, guidance and services of running events on road “.
The match turmoil attracted considerable attention on Chinese social media, with many Weibo users applauding the decision published on Friday.
Hu Xijin, former editor-in-chief of China’s state-run Global Times, posted on Weibo: “The results of the sanctions are very satisfactory. The reputations of individuals who profit from counterfeiting are damaged, and the institutions involved are even more infamous. They deserve it. This is what our society should do against counterfeiting.
Sports blogger Sun Yuxuan wrote: “It was originally a positive event and an opportunity for good publicity. If it ends like this, the negative impact this time will last for a long time.”
Cheating at Marathon
During the last years,Boom in long-distance running and marathon sports among China’s middle class,butCheatingAnd poor organization is also common.
In 2018, during a half marathon in Shenzhen, a city in southern China, 258 runners collectively cheated, some running for others, others counterfeiting bibs, and many runners taking “shortcuts » to pass through the green belts of 21 runners. were definitively banned by the organizers.
In 2019, during the Xuzhou International Marathon in eastern China, a female competitor was photographed riding a green shared bike. After the referee dissuaded her from riding again, she was ultimately banned from racing for life.
(AFP, etc.)
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