Organisers of the Beijing half marathon at the weekend are investigating allegations that three African athletes deliberately allowed China’s star runner He Jie to win the race, according to the BBC.
One of them, Kenyan runner Willy Mnangat, reportedly admitted to the South China Morning Post yesterday that he let He win the race ‘because he is my friend’.
Footage posted on social media shows Mnangat, fellow Kenyan Robert Keter and Ethiopia’s Dejene Hailu Bikila running together a few hundred metres from the finish line, with He, the Asian Games marathon gold medallist, just behind them.
Mnangat at one point looks at He and points to the finish line, and makes a waving gesture, beckoning his Chinese opponent to go ahead of them.
Once He passed the three runners, they made no effort to retake the lead.
The South China Morning Post reports that the end of Sunday’s race caused uproar online as suspicions were aroused about the leading runners appearing to slow down to let He pass.
Mnangat is quoted as saying: ‘He comes to Kenya and I was [pacing for him] in [the] Wuxi Marathon, so [he] is my friend, OK.’
Organisers of the event, the Beijing Sports Competition Management and International Exchange Centre, said an investigation had been launched.
[Image: Narnabi, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=136751919]