In recent days, the Beijing Half Marathon has been embroiled in a scandal, with Chinese runner He Jie being accused of being “escorted” to victory by three African runners, causing a huge uproar. On Friday, the results of the four mentioned runners were canceled, and the company involved in the scandal, Butte, lost its partnership status with the race event. The China Olympic Marathon also lost its operational qualification to host the Beijing Half Marathon.
The organizing committee of the Beijing Half Marathon announced its decision on the investigation and handling of the men’s race results amidst widespread scrutiny on April 19. Punishments were handed out to the parties involved, with He Jie, Willy, Dejeane, and Robert having their race results canceled, and their trophies, medals, and prize money revoked.
The China Olympic Marathon (Beijing) Sports Management Co., Ltd. had its operational qualification to host the Beijing Half Marathon revoked. They were instructed to publicly apologize to society and to take strict action against those responsible. Xiamen Step Investment Co., Ltd. also lost its partnership status with the event; they were mandated to publicly apologize to society and take serious action against those responsible.
According to the report, under the rules of the event, apart from self-registered athletes, special-invited athletes and pacesetters can be invited. Pacesetters are not allowed to participate as special-invited athletes without approval. For this event, based on Step’s recommendation, the China Olympic Marathon Company specifically invited 28 domestic and foreign athletes as special-invited athletes to participate (including He Jie and four foreign pacesetters).
Step did not clearly mark the pacesetters, leading the China Olympic Marathon Company to not report to the organizing committee and mistakenly registering the four foreign pacesetters as special-invited athletes. On the race day, the four foreign pacesetters wore special-invited athlete bibs and acted as pacesetters for He Jie.
At the 4-kilometer mark, one foreign pacesetter voluntarily withdrew, while the other three continued leading the pace. In the last 2 kilometers, they intentionally slowed down, and as a result, He Jie won the men’s championship in 1 hour, 3 minutes, and 44 seconds.
On the 19th, Step and the China Olympic Marathon issued apology statements. However, the public remains unconvinced.
The Director of the Sports Department of Peninsula Urban Daily, Cui Hengliang, posted on social media, saying, “If cheating during the race is called open fraud, and the current explanation is called openly insulting intelligence. In the eyes of the organizers, the public is naïve and can be easily fooled.”
Various online commentators criticized the blame-shifting among the involved companies and questioned the sincerity of the apologies. The incident has raised concerns about the integrity of sporting events and the transparency of event organizers.
As the scandal unfolds, questions linger about accountability, transparency, and the impact of such controversies on the credibility of sports events and the trust of the public.