Top finishers DQd after controversial Beijing half marathon finish
China's He Jie has been disqualified as winner of the Beijing half marathon along with three African runners by race organizers after an investigation into the controversial end of Sunday's race.
Organizers said on Friday video footage showed Kenyans Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat, and Dejene Bikila of Ethiopia, had deliberately slowed down shortly before the finish line and waved He through to win.
The videos went viral with online users suggesting the race was fixed.
Organizers said that four runners had been hired as pacemakers and not elite runners by the main race sponsor. They were neither registered as pacemakers nor identified as such on their bibs, and one of them did not finish.
He initially won the race in 1 hour 3 minutes 44 seconds, failing to improve the Chinese record. He is the nation's best road runner, owns the national marathon record and won marathon gold at last year's Asian Games.
