Beijing half marathon organisers strip top three of medals

BEIJING: The top three in Sunday's (Apr 14) Beijing half marathon have been stripped of their medals, organisers said, following an investigation into the finish that saw China's He Jie controversially win.

He crossed the line first in a bizarre finish after the Kenyans Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat, and Dejene Hailu from Ethiopia, seemed to deliberately allow him to win.

Footage of the conclusion to the race went viral.

"Today the 2024 Beijing Half Marathon Organising Committee issued a decision on the investigation and handling of the men's race results," a state media report said on Friday.

It added: "The trophies, medals and bonuses will be recovered."

The four runners had stuck together throughout the course of just over 21km around the streets of the Chinese capital.

But He, the 2023 Asian Games marathon gold medallist, won by one second after his supposed rivals appeared to slow down towards the finish and waved him out in front.

All four were "punished" and their results cancelled, China's state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Mnangat had told the BBC that the African trio were pacemakers, although their bibs did not say that.

The race investigation said that Mnangat, Keter and Hailu had not been properly registered as pacemakers for He, so their actions on the finish line breached competition rules.

The national governing body for athletics will take action to "standardise commercialised road-running competitions", CCTV said in a separate report on Friday.

"The Chinese Athletic Association will start from institutional regulations to further strengthen the supervision, guidance and services of road running events," the broadcaster said.

The association will "urge... committees at all levels to draw lessons from the