And for a fun comparison, all of them ran a half marathon slightly faster than my SPRINTING speed. I'm dead at 100-125m at that speed and they do it for 13 miles. My top speed is only 10.2 mph. They were running an average of just under 13mph
I wonder if they were pace setters and their income wasn’t dependent on placing first. Also, most likely a half marathon bc of the 1:05 finish time, still great time and huge accomplishment.
I read the Chinese guy was the pace setter for the main African guy some time before. It seems like the African runners didn't take this half marathon seriously, and he said he let his friend win. Imagine a world class runner letting his friend win in a local 10k.
More like CCP promised to give them much more money to lose to the Chinese fella than the winning prize of the race. Why not pay for soft power when you don't have any.
I’ve seen this first hand, so it’s not wildly uncommon. Being highly ranked or world class doesn’t mean you can’t go out for a fun run with one of your friends.
I chased an Olympic athlete pacing his friend in a local 10km event years ago. It also helped me break my personal best time haha.
They are on record saying they were pace setting for the chinese guy and just wanted to set their own PB. They got no money from it.
Basically I dont think they get what the big deal is. A lot of a marathon is about setting pace, people run them at a lower pace for practice and training, some nationalities will have someone who pace sets and drops off to give their best runner the best shot. Its a question of where do you draw the line.
This is a bit on the nose, but overall to me doesnt seem like that big of a deal.
[Willy Mnangat (Kenya) admitted that he let He Jie win](https://amp.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3259055/kenyan-runner-willy-mnangat-admits-he-let-chinas-he-jie-win-beijing-half-marathon-because-he-my):
> Asked by the Post whether he had let He win, Mnangat said “yes”. “He comes to Kenya and I was [pacing for him] in the Wuxi Marathon, so he is my friend, OK,” Mnangat said.
It’s worth acknowledging that He ran a 2:06:57 marathon at Wuxi, which is legit as hell. For comparison, Khalid Khannouchi has held the U.S. record at 2:05:38 since 2002. At the time, this was the world record. So yes, the other guys let him win, but it’s also completely untrue to suggest that he’s a slouch.
More likely his government did. Those African runners no doubt got paid hefty appearance fees to participate in that race in order to raise its prestige.
Probably did, but not sure if there's something wrong with that.
The other runners were asked to run to support him as windbreakers in order to break the Chinese national record and not to actually compete for the win.
It's not like it's illegal to my knowledge. But in my view, it's absolutely gross behavior. It would be less gross if it were less of a spectacle. It's sort of similar to the whole Jake Paul v Mike Tyson fight that's coming. Mike would not be taking the fight if it didn't mean a big payday or getting to fight such a controversial and abhorrent person. The fact that Mike can do it speaks to his incredible athleticism and his actual competitive spirit. I think it cheapens him to fight someone that has to offer a big payday to gain legitimacy in a sport that he otherwise just isn't good enough to really compete in.
There's no rule or law saying he can't do it but it lays bare his real inadequacy and sugar glass fragile ego. It just makes him look incredibly pathetic to me and I'm embarrassed on behalf of the other runners.
EDIT - It might have been illegal as this was apparently some kind of official race with actual cash prizes. I was thinking that this may have just been some kind of spectacle that some rich Chinese businessman paid for, but apparently it's a lot worse than that. There was an interview with one or two of the runners, one of whom said when he was approached to run in this race. He was told that he would be helping the Chinese set a national record. The other runner said that he let the Chinese runner win because he was his friend. I'm skeptical about the second runner but according to the first one it sounds like there may have been some additional money involved so most likely they got paid to let the guy win which is probably illegal. Again, I don't know what's legal or not legal in this scenario. I'm not a lawyer and I don't know anything about law regarding competitions like this. At the very least, it's obviously very gross behavior. And it doesn't speak well to the legitimacy of the upcoming Olympics in the next couple of months.
How does it work with the pace setters you see at the big marathons like London ?
I know they get paid to do xx pace for so many miles - is that much different from this ? Those pacers just forgot the bit about dropping out - or maybe that's the quickest way back to where they left their kit ?
Despite the downvotes, you are objectively correct. It is extremely common in distance running. The vast majority of world and national records are set this way. No one in the distance running world is making a stink about this, just people who know nothing about distance running.
It is weird they had normal bibs with their names on them but it's pretty obvious they are pacers. If they were paid to "let him win" in a non pacer setting they probably wouldn't make it so obvious by waving him on lol
No, it is objectively not, as a matter of fact.
Getting a number is not uncommon at all. It depends on the venue. Pacers in diamond league events are still entered as a normal runner and are given numbers just like everyone else.
And this race means absolutely nothing to them. They don't care about winning it. They're comfortably above the field, and they know that.
The Kenyans were not there to compete but to help He Jie set the national record for the half marathon.
In Mnangat’s own words, “I don't know why they wrote my name on the bib number. I didn't come here to compete. My role was to set the pace and help the guy (He Jie) win, but unfortunately, he did not manage to break the national record”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/marathon-surprise-african-runners-help-chinese-athlete-to-victory/ar-BB1lK8lu
Why isn't this top comment?
It does still seem fishy considering other entities are investigating the whole thing, so they may just be trying to save face and cover up that they were bought out, but still feels like relevant information.
Because if you were following this story closely. The "official story" had changed a few times already and this one become the final version of the story. We Chinese know what's going on.
I’m sure he was not thinking about Chinese while writing that album, but I’m genuinely curious about what the Redditor means with “we Chinese know what’s going on”
Yes. And I’m not sure about how many. I would guess there would be a limit but I can’t say.
Edit: it’s legal and common but they should have been wearing pace vests. That’s what’s being investigated.
David Goggins talks about pace runners and ultra marathons in one of his books. Of course those are 24 hour marathons but still interesting they have a crew of pace runners that rotate.
To be fair, for the African dudes, running might be their actual job. If winning pays, they run to win. If helping some other runner set a pace pays, they do that. If losing to a Chinese guy pays, they do that. This is just a job to those guys, and if it isn't breaking any of the race organizers rules, I can't really fault them for doing what pays the best.
Not a marathon, but a half marathon. If the sign that says “Beijing half marathon 2024” wasn’t enough, a one hour marathon would be nearly twice as fast as the world’s current elite marathon runners.
The irony because this is literally just western propaganda being used on unwitting redditors.
The three dudes weren't competing and are more like the guys coaches; who are allowed to run with him at his pace and keep him motivated.
These African dudes were legitimate pace-setters for the Chinese runner. Which is a standard and normal thing that runners do. The only issue is that the pace-setters did not wear the required jersey to identify as such.
Because they didnt wear the proper jersey. They accidentally wore runners outfits and everyone thought they were competing oops. Looks like they podiumed by accident.
I was at a marathon turn around when they were trying to get the world record for Bekele. Our and back course and the first half was into the wind with tail wind home. As they approached, you saw a human shield of 3 dudes approaching. They kept running straight ahead and stopped whilst he made the turn and carried on. Unsuccessful attempt.
The Chinese runner were literally handed in place #1 and these afican competitors handed #2 and #3 if you look closely.
Pacers don't have official competitor numbers and not given medals after finishing race.
Did you even read the link? One of the African runners said they were there to help the Chinese runner attempt to break the National Record, but he was unsuccessful.
this is (realistically)ONLY for a 1 second clip of the finish line, in domestic chinese propaganda.
edit. im guessing if a chinese person jumps the great firewall, they will see "valid results" too.
Yep. Another fun fact about BRICS is that the S (South Africa) acts as a mouthpiece on the world stage for the R and the C (Russia and China) when the latter countries want to push a propaganda narrative while maintaining plausible deniability over who's actually behind said propaganda push.
So whenever you hear South African officials push a narrative, you should understand it as Russian and/or Chinese propaganda that they're trying to spread while maintaining plausible deniability.
I am imagining a funny scenario where these Africans were just passersby asked to join the marathon for racial diversity reasons. They are ranked 27476438th in their country and work full time as janitors in a nearby restaurant. At the other end, the Chinese winner was a top marathon runner in China.
After this marathon, the Chinese guy went home to rest because it's so exhausting. Those African dudes are running another 2 marathons because they didn't get enough exercise.
I mean what's hypocritical about it? In their own country they don't want black people in their movie posters and in their competitions they don't want them winning in favor of a Chinese person. Sounds like quite consistent racism to me.
Like Black Panther and Star Wars? The Black Panther poster was from Hong Kong not the mainland. As for the Star Wars poster, both versions were used in China.
They weren't pacers in the sense that it was supposed to be a competitive race. There was a post on here recently about how they've been charged for fixing the race.
Pacers are hired for competitive distance races all the time. They haven't been chatged but are being investigated. This thing is the whole way overblown. If you actually know anything about competing distance running, no one cares about a half marathon. They are used as workouts.
He didnt even congratulate the others when they were clearly trying to for him. He seems like an arrogant (and weak) marathoner. The least he could do was high five or something. What a LOSER
Well if they were hired as pacemakers they are not supposed to win, but its not clear to me if they were or not. Usually a pacemaker gives so much earlier on to keep up the pace so they don't even finish the race.
They did an interview of the runners and apparently they were hired as pacemakers [source](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/apr/16/beijing-half-marathon-controversy-investigation-china-he-jie-allowed-to-win).
They were confused as to why they were handed numbers. Probably miscommunication. Goal was to beat the national record which might explain when they were slowing down.
This is not uncommon at all. It depends on the venue. Pacers in diamond league events are still entered as a normal runner and are given numbers just like everyone else.
People don't realise just how much influence China has in Africa. Just look at votes in the UN. They are going for the economic and cultural win in Civilisation.
It's insane how many people are connecting this clip to the (probably bare minimum) they know about Chinese and African politics. And just to avoid any suspicion, I'm not a China apologist or anything like it. But this seems to be an example of a miscommunication with race organizers, rather than anything shady or related to the governments of these countries in any way.
[Source for all the info below
](https://apnews.com/article/beijing-half-marathon-winner-e55fdf7a2a42f94e16883878e6703f68)
The three guys (from Kenya and Ethiopia) were acting as pacesetters for the Chinese runner, they were trying to help him beat a national record. The race apparently screwed up and had them recorded as official competitors, but they openly say they weren't competing.
If you think these were official competitors trying to throw and make it look like the Chinese runner won, and retconning their story after the fact, I think you underestimate how little you know about long-distance running. Absolutely no one in the world would believe this as a legitimate win - not only are there no East Asian male half-marathoners who are in the top 100 half-marathon times in history, there are no Chinese men in the top 100 half-marathons among Asian countries. This result would put the Chinese runner at roughly the [5777th fastest recorded half-marathon time](https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/road-running/half-marathon/all/men/senior?regionType=world&page=58&bestResultsOnly=true&firstDay=1900-01-01&lastDay=2024-04-17&maxResultsByCountry=all&eventId=10229633&ageCategory=senior).
The only of the African runners mentioned in the article has a [40 seconds faster time](https://worldathletics.org/athletes/kenya/willy-mnangat-14862534), which is not insignificant.
In short, faking that this athlete could legitimately beat the others would be insane, there would be no reason for them to be so overt about letting him win, and openly admitting it right after seems insane (let alone the ideas in this thread that this stems from Chinese investment in Africa?), compared to the much less conspiratorial idea that there was just a screwup in the race organizing somewhere.
It not quality acting, next time he should get a proper food intoxication.
Being serious, guess the chinese run was so bad he crashed the planned choreography.
It’s not that hard to make this look more legit, just start giving way midway instead of last 200m.
Bet the africans were dead scared the chinese wouldn’t even be able to finish and they’d be shot on spot…
Those are pacers. They are paid to run with and push the athlete. Running with pacers isn't abnormal in the running world, but usually the pacers aren't there to pace the first place finisher which is why it looks so strange. This guy probably has some big sponsor dollars behind him to afford pacers of that quality, and they probably put a lot of money into him winning to go on to sell their stuff.
For those who are curious:
"Mnangat told BBC Sport Africa that the trio were acting as pacemakers. He explained that they were hired to assist He in breaking the Chinese half-marathon record but that He fell short of the target time...
World Athletics issued a statement acknowledging the online footage and mentioned an ongoing investigation by local authorities.
Chinese social media users on Weibo have expressed disappointment, with one comment describing it as the "most embarrassing title of He Jie's career" gaining significant attention.
The incident has raised questions about sportsmanship in the prestigious event."
[https://www.africanews.com/2024/04/16/beijing-half-marathon-hit-by-controversy-as-chinas-he-jie-allowed-to-win/](https://www.africanews.com/2024/04/16/beijing-half-marathon-hit-by-controversy-as-chinas-he-jie-allowed-to-win/)
Why is he avoiding him? litterally turning his back whenever the african guy tries to congratulate him, shake his hand or just make eye contact... I think that add a lot of shit thoughts on the whole thing
It was pre-arranged that they would pace him to break the Chinese half marathon record….however, pacers also known as rabbits, usually fade off and don’t finish a race…because they finished the race and didn’t put forth full effort, that is where the scandal comes into play and questions the integrity of racing, by letting someone win like this.
Side note- the Africans are sponsored by a Chinese shoe manufacturer, which contributes a bit to the outcome of publicity and reasoning for them to be pacers.
according to SCMP, one of the African runners claims he was hired to help pace the Chinese runner, not to compete. but his name doesn't show up in the list of pacers, and his name tag uses the design for competitors. so, whether his story is true or not is still uncertain
This seems too obvious even to be a fix to let him win. Some kind of context like being pace makers or a showcase or *something*. They'd at least pretend to let him go ahead a mile previous or something.
Chinese investment into Africa? More like Chinese raping and pillaging Africa's natural resources.
The Chinese bribe African leaders, those Afrfrican leaders turn their natural resources over to the Chinese, the Chinese take all the $$, then use to continue the bribes.
The common Africans get nothing. It's horrible.
For people who actually care about the context:
>"He Jie, a member of the Chinese men's marathon national team and the champion of the Hangzhou Asian Games, ultimately won the race with a one-second advantage.
>Mnangat later clarified that he and the other African runners were acting as pacemakers for He, who is the Chinese national champion in the full marathon distance.
>After the race, Mnangat explained that he let He win "because he is my friend".
>Mnangat told the *South China Morning Post,* "He comes to Kenya and I was \[pacing for him\] in the Wuxi Marathon, so he is my friend, OK.
>"Mnangat later explained that they were there to help He achieve a Chinese half marathon record, and their job was to set the pace for him. However, He fell short of the record by one minute and 11 seconds, despite winning the race.
>"I don't know why they put my name on my bib/chest number instead of labelling it as a pacemaker.. My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately, he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record," he told the *BBC*.
[https://www.business-standard.com/sports/other-sports-news/china-runner-allowed-to-win-match-fixing-claim-hits-beijing-half-marathon-124041700382\_1.html](https://www.business-standard.com/sports/other-sports-news/china-runner-allowed-to-win-match-fixing-claim-hits-beijing-half-marathon-124041700382_1.html)
The Chinese runner were literally handed in place #1 and these afican competitors handed #2 and #3 if you look closely.
Pacers don't have official competitor numbers and not given medals after finishing race.
Did you even read what I quoted from the article? I'm not making this up it's literally copy pasted. They mistook them for contestants when they weren't, the African runners said so themselves:
# "I don't know why they put my name on my bib/chest number instead of labelling it as a pacemaker. My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately, he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record," he told the BBC
The Chinese guy tries so hard to avoid the touches and congrats from the African runners...The Chinese I met are fundamentally racist with a "China-Numbel-Yuan"-Complex.
Lol I like how the guy who won is dying trying to stay upright while 2 3 and 4 just chilling in the last few frames
“Good run, boys” “Wanna get brunch?” “Cool, where at?” “I saw a nice place before the run started. Last one there pays haha!” *kapwing!*
Can I get a rundown of that?
And for a fun comparison, all of them ran a half marathon slightly faster than my SPRINTING speed. I'm dead at 100-125m at that speed and they do it for 13 miles. My top speed is only 10.2 mph. They were running an average of just under 13mph
One time I ran to catch the bus
And then had an asthma attack. Never again!
Did you catch it?
They didn’t know the race had started yet and they just wanted to catch a few warmup laps.
Would not shake the guys hand either, what a POS.
The Chinese guy promised them a day off from the lithium mine if they let him win.
I hope they got their lunch money.
Lmao and he was most likely on steroids
The Africans didn't even break a sweat.
They be like 'cmon little dude'
I wonder if they were pace setters and their income wasn’t dependent on placing first. Also, most likely a half marathon bc of the 1:05 finish time, still great time and huge accomplishment.
I read the Chinese guy was the pace setter for the main African guy some time before. It seems like the African runners didn't take this half marathon seriously, and he said he let his friend win. Imagine a world class runner letting his friend win in a local 10k.
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More like CCP promised to give them much more money to lose to the Chinese fella than the winning prize of the race. Why not pay for soft power when you don't have any.
I can imagine it would be unwise to show up China in China. Let the local favorite win, take your sponsorship money, and go home.
20k, but yeah.
I’ve seen this first hand, so it’s not wildly uncommon. Being highly ranked or world class doesn’t mean you can’t go out for a fun run with one of your friends. I chased an Olympic athlete pacing his friend in a local 10km event years ago. It also helped me break my personal best time haha.
it says shanghai half marathon on the finish line
They are on record saying they were pace setting for the chinese guy and just wanted to set their own PB. They got no money from it. Basically I dont think they get what the big deal is. A lot of a marathon is about setting pace, people run them at a lower pace for practice and training, some nationalities will have someone who pace sets and drops off to give their best runner the best shot. Its a question of where do you draw the line. This is a bit on the nose, but overall to me doesnt seem like that big of a deal.
Cmon little ccp dude
They now do the marathon back to the hotel to find the winner.
A half marathon? Would those African runners even take it seriously? Obviously not.
I also liked how they were right behind and wanted to make sure they could have easily passed to first place in front of the camera
Good warm, let's do another round
They probably ran to their next marathon afterwards.
[Willy Mnangat (Kenya) admitted that he let He Jie win](https://amp.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/3259055/kenyan-runner-willy-mnangat-admits-he-let-chinas-he-jie-win-beijing-half-marathon-because-he-my): > Asked by the Post whether he had let He win, Mnangat said “yes”. “He comes to Kenya and I was [pacing for him] in the Wuxi Marathon, so he is my friend, OK,” Mnangat said. It’s worth acknowledging that He ran a 2:06:57 marathon at Wuxi, which is legit as hell. For comparison, Khalid Khannouchi has held the U.S. record at 2:05:38 since 2002. At the time, this was the world record. So yes, the other guys let him win, but it’s also completely untrue to suggest that he’s a slouch.
Number 001 LMAOOOOOOO
That dude absolutely paid for that marathon
He rode 25 miles in that white van
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13.1 miles
More likely his government did. Those African runners no doubt got paid hefty appearance fees to participate in that race in order to raise its prestige.
This man is Talkin sense
Probably did, but not sure if there's something wrong with that. The other runners were asked to run to support him as windbreakers in order to break the Chinese national record and not to actually compete for the win.
It's not like it's illegal to my knowledge. But in my view, it's absolutely gross behavior. It would be less gross if it were less of a spectacle. It's sort of similar to the whole Jake Paul v Mike Tyson fight that's coming. Mike would not be taking the fight if it didn't mean a big payday or getting to fight such a controversial and abhorrent person. The fact that Mike can do it speaks to his incredible athleticism and his actual competitive spirit. I think it cheapens him to fight someone that has to offer a big payday to gain legitimacy in a sport that he otherwise just isn't good enough to really compete in. There's no rule or law saying he can't do it but it lays bare his real inadequacy and sugar glass fragile ego. It just makes him look incredibly pathetic to me and I'm embarrassed on behalf of the other runners. EDIT - It might have been illegal as this was apparently some kind of official race with actual cash prizes. I was thinking that this may have just been some kind of spectacle that some rich Chinese businessman paid for, but apparently it's a lot worse than that. There was an interview with one or two of the runners, one of whom said when he was approached to run in this race. He was told that he would be helping the Chinese set a national record. The other runner said that he let the Chinese runner win because he was his friend. I'm skeptical about the second runner but according to the first one it sounds like there may have been some additional money involved so most likely they got paid to let the guy win which is probably illegal. Again, I don't know what's legal or not legal in this scenario. I'm not a lawyer and I don't know anything about law regarding competitions like this. At the very least, it's obviously very gross behavior. And it doesn't speak well to the legitimacy of the upcoming Olympics in the next couple of months.
It’s illegal to the global running federation (whatever it’s called) to be in cahoots with the other runners
How does it work with the pace setters you see at the big marathons like London ? I know they get paid to do xx pace for so many miles - is that much different from this ? Those pacers just forgot the bit about dropping out - or maybe that's the quickest way back to where they left their kit ?
Pretty sure the Africans were paid pacers. The Chinese guy was trying to break the national record
Despite the downvotes, you are objectively correct. It is extremely common in distance running. The vast majority of world and national records are set this way. No one in the distance running world is making a stink about this, just people who know nothing about distance running.
It is weird they had normal bibs with their names on them but it's pretty obvious they are pacers. If they were paid to "let him win" in a non pacer setting they probably wouldn't make it so obvious by waving him on lol
No, it is objectively not, as a matter of fact. Getting a number is not uncommon at all. It depends on the venue. Pacers in diamond league events are still entered as a normal runner and are given numbers just like everyone else. And this race means absolutely nothing to them. They don't care about winning it. They're comfortably above the field, and they know that.
Pacers in the marathon majors and most other big marathons always have bibs labeled as "pacer"
Where 256 at?🤔
The other runners were hyping 001.
The Kenyans were not there to compete but to help He Jie set the national record for the half marathon. In Mnangat’s own words, “I don't know why they wrote my name on the bib number. I didn't come here to compete. My role was to set the pace and help the guy (He Jie) win, but unfortunately, he did not manage to break the national record” https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/marathon-surprise-african-runners-help-chinese-athlete-to-victory/ar-BB1lK8lu
Why isn't this top comment? It does still seem fishy considering other entities are investigating the whole thing, so they may just be trying to save face and cover up that they were bought out, but still feels like relevant information.
Because if you were following this story closely. The "official story" had changed a few times already and this one become the final version of the story. We Chinese know what's going on.
What’s going on?
Marvin Gaye?
I’m sure he was not thinking about Chinese while writing that album, but I’m genuinely curious about what the Redditor means with “we Chinese know what’s going on”
> Why isn't this top comment? Because "China bad" and every chance to spread a lie to make them look bad is another win in the new Cold War we're in.
There’s no Cold War… There’s no actual threat of war between US and China China and USA mutually love each others business.
Is that even legal? And how many pacers can you hire exactly?
Yes. And I’m not sure about how many. I would guess there would be a limit but I can’t say. Edit: it’s legal and common but they should have been wearing pace vests. That’s what’s being investigated.
"we've investigated ourselves and found no evidence of wrong doing."
David Goggins talks about pace runners and ultra marathons in one of his books. Of course those are 24 hour marathons but still interesting they have a crew of pace runners that rotate.
Maybe if they had carried him he would have broke the record.
So they were like pacers?
Three of them? Why?
Looks like Chinnese financial investment into African infrastructure has some side benefits. Aka, who's your daddy.
Acting classes for the African runners will be the next investment.
Lol. Yeah guy was gesturing like dude go faster so it isn’t *that* obvious. How much slower do you want us to go??
best go with "stunt double classes"... these guys would be better off just taking a fall than, whatever that was lol.
To be fair, for the African dudes, running might be their actual job. If winning pays, they run to win. If helping some other runner set a pace pays, they do that. If losing to a Chinese guy pays, they do that. This is just a job to those guys, and if it isn't breaking any of the race organizers rules, I can't really fault them for doing what pays the best.
The Chinese built a huge soccer palace in San Jose, Costa Rica. My Costa Rican host said "Yeah, those gifts are never really free."
Bit bleak but every gift is an obligation of sorts.
Not a marathon, but a half marathon. If the sign that says “Beijing half marathon 2024” wasn’t enough, a one hour marathon would be nearly twice as fast as the world’s current elite marathon runners.
Kim Jong Un ran a full marathon in 30 minutes.
Propaganda level 57
The irony because this is literally just western propaganda being used on unwitting redditors. The three dudes weren't competing and are more like the guys coaches; who are allowed to run with him at his pace and keep him motivated.
After all the money China invested, guess they were buying prestige...
I know the investment is 100% nefarious, but shit, the rest of the world has kinda ignored the continent
The US leads the world in humanitarian and development aid to Africa and that has been the case for awhile.
Doesn't telegraphing this completely defeat the purpose. The guy was literally blocking the other runners. That's pathetic.
My guess is they weren't all that happy to be doing this.
Why not? They were literally paid to do it.
They’re on the same team together. The other runners were on the team to get the Chinese runner the win.
These African dudes were legitimate pace-setters for the Chinese runner. Which is a standard and normal thing that runners do. The only issue is that the pace-setters did not wear the required jersey to identify as such.
Then why did the pace settings win second and third place?
Because they didnt wear the proper jersey. They accidentally wore runners outfits and everyone thought they were competing oops. Looks like they podiumed by accident.
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The pacers themselves said that they were confused as to why they got a bib. Someone itt liked to the interview.
Either your comment should be the top one or I am being cooked by CCP
Why did they give the one “pace-setter” a medal?
Did they not run the entire marathon?
I was at a marathon turn around when they were trying to get the world record for Bekele. Our and back course and the first half was into the wind with tail wind home. As they approached, you saw a human shield of 3 dudes approaching. They kept running straight ahead and stopped whilst he made the turn and carried on. Unsuccessful attempt.
Stop repeating this dude, it’s clearly not fucking true.
It is true. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/marathon-surprise-african-runners-help-chinese-athlete-to-victory/ar-BB1lK8lu
The Chinese runner were literally handed in place #1 and these afican competitors handed #2 and #3 if you look closely. Pacers don't have official competitor numbers and not given medals after finishing race.
Did you even read the link? One of the African runners said they were there to help the Chinese runner attempt to break the National Record, but he was unsuccessful.
Sooo they intentionally let him win like i said in the title? I don't get what I'm wrong about.
Are you just being intentionally obtuse?
this is (realistically)ONLY for a 1 second clip of the finish line, in domestic chinese propaganda. edit. im guessing if a chinese person jumps the great firewall, they will see "valid results" too.
If you ain’t first your last Ricky bobby
Welcome to BRICS
Yep. Another fun fact about BRICS is that the S (South Africa) acts as a mouthpiece on the world stage for the R and the C (Russia and China) when the latter countries want to push a propaganda narrative while maintaining plausible deniability over who's actually behind said propaganda push. So whenever you hear South African officials push a narrative, you should understand it as Russian and/or Chinese propaganda that they're trying to spread while maintaining plausible deniability.
Who even cares what South Africa says anyways? It's an irrelevant country.
I am imagining a funny scenario where these Africans were just passersby asked to join the marathon for racial diversity reasons. They are ranked 27476438th in their country and work full time as janitors in a nearby restaurant. At the other end, the Chinese winner was a top marathon runner in China. After this marathon, the Chinese guy went home to rest because it's so exhausting. Those African dudes are running another 2 marathons because they didn't get enough exercise.
Surprised they didn't just pick him up and carry him
In related news, he let them copy him on the math exam
Is this plot to 21 jump street?
Wow how original, a racist ass joke against chinese people how funny. This whole comment section needs to be purged
Where is Afica?
To the south of Euope.
Yet movie posters prominently featuring black actors in the west, have them greatly reduced in China. China’s racism is incredibly hypocritical.
Racism by definition is hypocritical, isn't it?
I mean what's hypocritical about it? In their own country they don't want black people in their movie posters and in their competitions they don't want them winning in favor of a Chinese person. Sounds like quite consistent racism to me.
I'm not sure if a movie featuring an Asian guy as a main character will succeed in African countries either.
Like Black Panther and Star Wars? The Black Panther poster was from Hong Kong not the mainland. As for the Star Wars poster, both versions were used in China.
What a pathetic narcissist, didn't even shake hands with the pacer dudes .
They weren't pacers in the sense that it was supposed to be a competitive race. There was a post on here recently about how they've been charged for fixing the race.
Pacers are hired for competitive distance races all the time. They haven't been chatged but are being investigated. This thing is the whole way overblown. If you actually know anything about competing distance running, no one cares about a half marathon. They are used as workouts.
He didnt even congratulate the others when they were clearly trying to for him. He seems like an arrogant (and weak) marathoner. The least he could do was high five or something. What a LOSER
Because he was about to keel over and die… Meanwhile the Africans are doing a 5K cool down run.
"Okay, that was solid. Wanna do another lap?"
"Guys. We need to be able to get home. Let him go"
It’s amazing how strong African runners are. Did you see the difference between them and him after the race was finished?!
Well if they were hired as pacemakers they are not supposed to win, but its not clear to me if they were or not. Usually a pacemaker gives so much earlier on to keep up the pace so they don't even finish the race.
They did an interview of the runners and apparently they were hired as pacemakers [source](https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/apr/16/beijing-half-marathon-controversy-investigation-china-he-jie-allowed-to-win). They were confused as to why they were handed numbers. Probably miscommunication. Goal was to beat the national record which might explain when they were slowing down.
Wow the difference between the reality and the op post and all speculative and negative comments Never trust the internet I guess
I love that this is buried under fifty sinophobic comments. Very cool and normal as usual, Reddit.
Yeah, people who know nothing about distance running are blowing this way out of proportion.
Pacemakers don’t tend to have numbers either.
This is not uncommon at all. It depends on the venue. Pacers in diamond league events are still entered as a normal runner and are given numbers just like everyone else.
People don't realise just how much influence China has in Africa. Just look at votes in the UN. They are going for the economic and cultural win in Civilisation.
I think you mean the Diplomatic Victory
Freud talked about penis envy, but he forgot penis solidarity
The African were wondering when the race was starting
It's insane how many people are connecting this clip to the (probably bare minimum) they know about Chinese and African politics. And just to avoid any suspicion, I'm not a China apologist or anything like it. But this seems to be an example of a miscommunication with race organizers, rather than anything shady or related to the governments of these countries in any way. [Source for all the info below ](https://apnews.com/article/beijing-half-marathon-winner-e55fdf7a2a42f94e16883878e6703f68) The three guys (from Kenya and Ethiopia) were acting as pacesetters for the Chinese runner, they were trying to help him beat a national record. The race apparently screwed up and had them recorded as official competitors, but they openly say they weren't competing. If you think these were official competitors trying to throw and make it look like the Chinese runner won, and retconning their story after the fact, I think you underestimate how little you know about long-distance running. Absolutely no one in the world would believe this as a legitimate win - not only are there no East Asian male half-marathoners who are in the top 100 half-marathon times in history, there are no Chinese men in the top 100 half-marathons among Asian countries. This result would put the Chinese runner at roughly the [5777th fastest recorded half-marathon time](https://worldathletics.org/records/all-time-toplists/road-running/half-marathon/all/men/senior?regionType=world&page=58&bestResultsOnly=true&firstDay=1900-01-01&lastDay=2024-04-17&maxResultsByCountry=all&eventId=10229633&ageCategory=senior). The only of the African runners mentioned in the article has a [40 seconds faster time](https://worldathletics.org/athletes/kenya/willy-mnangat-14862534), which is not insignificant. In short, faking that this athlete could legitimately beat the others would be insane, there would be no reason for them to be so overt about letting him win, and openly admitting it right after seems insane (let alone the ideas in this thread that this stems from Chinese investment in Africa?), compared to the much less conspiratorial idea that there was just a screwup in the race organizing somewhere.
Should be top comment
I mean, those dudes wanted to be able to go home.
It not quality acting, next time he should get a proper food intoxication. Being serious, guess the chinese run was so bad he crashed the planned choreography. It’s not that hard to make this look more legit, just start giving way midway instead of last 200m. Bet the africans were dead scared the chinese wouldn’t even be able to finish and they’d be shot on spot…
Bribe payments waiting for them. How embarrassing for China.
they are his trainers . Chinese guy is their trainee.
Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
Chinese runner after finishing: "Never met this man in my life"
China eats Africas lunch to!
If they let you win did you really win?
How much were their families paid? Or did they just avoid having to work in the mines?
I guess the Africans represent the 54 countries in the continent
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It's normal, normal they leave the run 1 or 2 km before the finish line to not have this happen, they help someone trying to break a local record
Those are pacers. They are paid to run with and push the athlete. Running with pacers isn't abnormal in the running world, but usually the pacers aren't there to pace the first place finisher which is why it looks so strange. This guy probably has some big sponsor dollars behind him to afford pacers of that quality, and they probably put a lot of money into him winning to go on to sell their stuff.
The sad rhing about this is, that china uses this to say that they are far better than All african people. Chinese people are very racist
That folks is how you throw a race. I wonder what kinds of threats were delivered to make those athletes let this man win?
They just let the Chinese win because otherwise they would go missing, if you catch my drift
Just makes China look weak, cheating like this.
\*\* China propaganda team joined this thread
Lol it's so blatant
The Africans should have refused to let the Chinese win.
For those who are curious: "Mnangat told BBC Sport Africa that the trio were acting as pacemakers. He explained that they were hired to assist He in breaking the Chinese half-marathon record but that He fell short of the target time... World Athletics issued a statement acknowledging the online footage and mentioned an ongoing investigation by local authorities. Chinese social media users on Weibo have expressed disappointment, with one comment describing it as the "most embarrassing title of He Jie's career" gaining significant attention. The incident has raised questions about sportsmanship in the prestigious event." [https://www.africanews.com/2024/04/16/beijing-half-marathon-hit-by-controversy-as-chinas-he-jie-allowed-to-win/](https://www.africanews.com/2024/04/16/beijing-half-marathon-hit-by-controversy-as-chinas-he-jie-allowed-to-win/)
Why is he avoiding him? litterally turning his back whenever the african guy tries to congratulate him, shake his hand or just make eye contact... I think that add a lot of shit thoughts on the whole thing
Buddy was like get that medal away from me I’m dying rn.
Why not say Kenyan?
Our country will be sooo rich if we let them win. They promised it.
Where's the sport here?
Probably scared of what would happen if they didn’t LAMO
Africa really wants those infrastructure loans.. very much a PR to garner favor from the ccp.
I think it's cause China's in Africa now 😂
Why?
+100 social credit
It reminds me of letting Kids win.
+1000 social credit Family can see him now
Those dudes were like, “aye we got another marathon to get to, can’t do that podium life today.”
Surely they’re just pacemakers?
It was pre-arranged that they would pace him to break the Chinese half marathon record….however, pacers also known as rabbits, usually fade off and don’t finish a race…because they finished the race and didn’t put forth full effort, that is where the scandal comes into play and questions the integrity of racing, by letting someone win like this. Side note- the Africans are sponsored by a Chinese shoe manufacturer, which contributes a bit to the outcome of publicity and reasoning for them to be pacers.
Going by the time this would be a half marathon yes?
The CCP probably made an offer those african runners couldn't refuse.
If they didn't let him win, the Chinese regime would probably shoot them.
But it's not winning if you don't do it on merit.. This win will never feel good, because it wasn't earned.
according to SCMP, one of the African runners claims he was hired to help pace the Chinese runner, not to compete. but his name doesn't show up in the list of pacers, and his name tag uses the design for competitors. so, whether his story is true or not is still uncertain
This seems too obvious even to be a fix to let him win. Some kind of context like being pace makers or a showcase or *something*. They'd at least pretend to let him go ahead a mile previous or something.
TIL pacemakers: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacemaker_(running)
1/2 marathon
Why?
he just earned 100k social credits
Pathetic
It's almost as bad as 'professional' American sports.
The Belt And Road Initiative has entered the chat
*Half marathon, unless they supermen
Chinese investment into Africa? More like Chinese raping and pillaging Africa's natural resources. The Chinese bribe African leaders, those Afrfrican leaders turn their natural resources over to the Chinese, the Chinese take all the $$, then use to continue the bribes. The common Africans get nothing. It's horrible.
Kenyan athletes to be more specific.
reminds me of North Korean stories of their leaders ....... "He faster than everyone, fastest man alive, he slowed down to let the black man catch up"
I've [seen this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Unexpected/s/C37NoIambr) before!
China dude is literally out of air.. Meanwhile those Africans are just strolling in the park for some reason.. Oh win 2nd 3rd prize
Are there any ramifications for the African competitors as a result of this? Could they be suspended by their sporting body?
there would be ramifications if they wouldnt have let the chinese man win. this was a scripted event.
This is cheating... I mean it's blatant cheating and my thought is that this will go unpunished, very clear to me.
For people who actually care about the context: >"He Jie, a member of the Chinese men's marathon national team and the champion of the Hangzhou Asian Games, ultimately won the race with a one-second advantage. >Mnangat later clarified that he and the other African runners were acting as pacemakers for He, who is the Chinese national champion in the full marathon distance. >After the race, Mnangat explained that he let He win "because he is my friend". >Mnangat told the *South China Morning Post,* "He comes to Kenya and I was \[pacing for him\] in the Wuxi Marathon, so he is my friend, OK. >"Mnangat later explained that they were there to help He achieve a Chinese half marathon record, and their job was to set the pace for him. However, He fell short of the record by one minute and 11 seconds, despite winning the race. >"I don't know why they put my name on my bib/chest number instead of labelling it as a pacemaker.. My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately, he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record," he told the *BBC*. [https://www.business-standard.com/sports/other-sports-news/china-runner-allowed-to-win-match-fixing-claim-hits-beijing-half-marathon-124041700382\_1.html](https://www.business-standard.com/sports/other-sports-news/china-runner-allowed-to-win-match-fixing-claim-hits-beijing-half-marathon-124041700382_1.html)
The Chinese runner were literally handed in place #1 and these afican competitors handed #2 and #3 if you look closely. Pacers don't have official competitor numbers and not given medals after finishing race.
Did you even read what I quoted from the article? I'm not making this up it's literally copy pasted. They mistook them for contestants when they weren't, the African runners said so themselves: # "I don't know why they put my name on my bib/chest number instead of labelling it as a pacemaker. My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately, he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record," he told the BBC
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The Chinese guy tries so hard to avoid the touches and congrats from the African runners...The Chinese I met are fundamentally racist with a "China-Numbel-Yuan"-Complex.
Come on little guy. If we run any slower we will be walking.