The winners’ medals of the Beijing half marathon have been withdrawn as an investigation concluded that three African runners, Kenyans Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat and Ethiopian Dejene Hailu, had given China’s He Jie the win. In addition to the medals, cash prizes were also collected.
From the videos of the last meters of the race it seems that the African runners almost accompany the Chinese athlete to the finish line, without accelerating, to allow him to win the race. He Jie had come first, the other three tied for second.
Mnangat had previously told BBC that he was participating in the race as a “hare”, the jargon term for athletes hired to help someone run faster. The race’s organizing company, Zhongao Lupao Beijing Sports Management, said the company sponsoring He Jie (Xtep) had signed the other three runners as “hares” but had not notified him properly. The three therefore did not have the necessary authorization to participate as “hares”. Xtep attributed the failure to register to an error by its staff.
In 2018, during the Shenzhen half marathon, also in China, street cameras caught 237 people cheating.
– Read also: The importance of “hares” in athletics