Suddenly giving in before the finish line China marathon match-fixing controversy

There are also claims that he intentionally slowed down his pace and used a pacemaker during the Chinese marathon.

At a half marathon held in Beijing, China, suspicions of match-fixing arose after foreign athletes were caught deliberately slowing down to allow a Chinese athlete to win. There were also revelations that he ran as a 'pacemaker' to set a new marathon record in China.

According to foreign media such as CNN and Newsweek on the 15th (local time), China's He Jie (25), gold medalist at the 2023 Hangzhou Asian Games, won the '2024 Beijing Half Marathon' on the 14th with a record of 1 hour, 3 minutes and 44 seconds.

Three African athletes, including Kenya's Robert Ketter and Willy Mnangat, and Ethiopia's Dejene Hailu, tied for second place. This record is 1 second slower than Heo Je.

However, after the game, controversy over ‘match-fixing’ arose. This is because the video of the game at the time spread through social media.

In the video, the three African athletes running ahead turn around, check for Heoje, and then slow down at the same time. Willie Mnangat, who was running next to Heo Je, made a hand gesture with about 100 meters left before the finish line, as if to tell Heo Je to go first.

Chinese netizens who saw this responded, “Foreign players don’t seem to want to compete with He Jie,” and “This kind of champion is not glorious at all.”

Some have pointed out that this game is the result of a ‘capital fight’. One netizen pointed out, “When capital begins to flow into sports, sports no longer become pure and athletes become victims,” and added, “The organizing committee should quickly explain the results of this Beijing Half Marathon.” “This race was not a competition for me,” Nnangat told the BBC. “My job was to set the pace and help Heje win, but unfortunately he couldn’t break the record.” He said that he ran as a 'pacemaker' for Heo Je's new marathon record. As the controversy grew, the Beijing Sports Bureau, which hosted the event, announced that it was forming a special investigation team to investigate the truth. 토토사이트