Was a Chinese runner handed a win in Beijing’s half marathon?

A runner winning a half marathon on home soil is usually cause for celebration. But not for He Jie, the Chinese national marathon champion, whose victory in the Beijing half marathon on Sunday is under investigation by race organisers after two Kenyans and one Ethiopian runner appeared to deliberately let him win. Footage shows Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat of Kenya and Ethiopia’s Dejene Hailu Bikila gesture for He to pass a few hundred metres from the finishing line. The three African runners were hired as pacemakers for He to break the Chinese half marathon record – which he fell short of by over a minute. Mnangat said after the race that he let He win “because he is my friend”. The state-run China Daily said the race had become a “mockery”.