Chinese Half-Marathon Champion Is Disqualified—Along With Runners Who Let Him Win

WTF? so they are disqualifying people with pacers if the pacers don't drop? Track & Field definitely excels at making itself look dumb.

One of the runners gave the jig away. I guess the competitive spirit in him would not allow him to pretend that he was beaten fair and square.

Also there was very poor planning. The four runners should have dropped off the pace one by one in order give the impression that the Chinese runner was dropping them. It would have made the whole jig more believable instead of having everyone run in tandem.

I guess the Chinese organizers don't watch many road races. The movie director should have done research. He should be fired.

Or they knew they were pacers and nearly every big race has pacers and it's literally never been an issue and it's super confusing that people seem to have completely forgotten that it's a thing. I suppose we should disqualify every mom/dad who runs with their kid too if they let their kid win in the end.

What exactly is the issue with this?

Nobody lost it when Young let Mantz win the trials.

You are completely blind. This was not pacing. This was a fixed race. The sponsor of the Race is a company called XTep. They are also the sponsor of the Chinese runner . They conspired to enable the Chinese runner to win because it would be good for marketing. Showing the top Chinese runner beating East Africans is a huge marketing coup.

Only blind people cannot see this. Also China has a strong history of match fixing in various sports

I should also add that at least one of the runners have admitted that they let the Chinese runner win. They did not claim they were pacing. Finally the whole issue has been investigated by the race organizers and the conclusion is that it was fixed.

Beat me to it, but I second that emotion.

Unless you are trolling, this can't be a serious statement. As a track fans ought to know the difference.

Winning in a trial is not the most important goal. Earning a qualifying spot is the most important . As such, fans don't watch a trial in anticipation of who will win. Its about who earns a spot. As a runner, you may even choose to save energy if you are already assured of a qualifying spot.

On the other hand, in a road race the fans and the sponsors expect runners to go out and win and possibly set a record of some kind. Whether its a championship record or a national record or a personal best or an area record or even a world record. Basically runners are expected to go all out as there is prize money for breaking records.

Let's go down that rabbit hole.

Is it your contention that Young allowed Mantz to win because Young was only interested in earning a spot and little else, or that he allowed Mantz to win because Young was interested in "saving energy"?

Or do you think that there just might have been a little something else going on there, like, oh, I don't know... a financial incentive that the runners just might have agreed to split in some way that would benefit them both?

The ruling is quite arbitrary and mostly to appease the online mob.

It can be argued that it's a mistake on the sponsors part to not give pacers special bibs. But the runners did nothing wrong. Especially He. There is no basis for his title to be stripped, other than punishing him for benefiting from his sponsors mistake.

The three African runners, you can argue that they didn't compete to their full capacity, but I'm not sure if the rule says that you are DQed if you don't compete to your full capacity.

I think it’s actually very clear that Young and Mantz broke the rules at the US trials and should both be DQ’d.

They were not pacers. They have a Chinese manager involved in the fix.

Correct. Mantz' Nike bonus was $150,000 compared to $80,000 from ASICS to Young.

Come on guys, research or know your sport before opining.

What was the prize money at the Trials? What was the prize money at this race in China? They must have paid these pacers better than the podium paid at this race.

Inquiring minds NEED to know: what are He's pronouns?

Exactly. They straightforwardly rigged the US Olympic Trials for money. And they’re apparently going to face no consequences for it.

Forget about pronouns, Dave Reading wants to know what He’s wife has been up to.