Three African marathon runners, Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat both from Kenya, and Dejene Hailu from Ethiopia, are under investigation after they were accused of fixing the Beijing Half Marathon race by deliberately allowing a Chinese athlete, He Jie, to win.

The incident which occurred on Sunday at the 13-mile run and captured on video, saw the African runners who were all in the lead deliberately making way for He Jie, a member of China’s marathon team and national marathon record holder, at the finish line.

The 25-year-old Chinese runner won the half-marathon in a time of 1:03:44, just one second ahead of the trio after all four had run together for the entire race.

After the video went viral, the
Beijing Half Marathon organisers, the Beijing Sports Competition Management and International Exchange Centre, released a statement saying the incident is being investigated.

Mnangat who seemingly admitted the fraud, later told the South China Morning Post he let He Jie win “because he is my friend,” but however added he was not given any financial reward for doing so.

The South China Morning Post which reported the incident in a write up on Monday, said that in the controversial video, the three athletes can be seen gesturing towards the finish line and apparently slowing their pace to let He, the 2023 Asian Games marathon gold medalist, take the lead and ultimately win the race by a narrow one-second margin in a gesture that seemed orchestrated.

The Beijing Sports Bureau has also confirmed that an investigation was underway.

“We are taking this matter very seriously and will communicate the findings to the public once the investigation is complete,” an official from the Bureau stated in a statement.

This incident has however, sparked a significant backlash on Weibo, China’s leading social media platform, where users expressed disappointment and frustration.

“This will certainly be the most embarrassing championship in He Jie’s career,” one user posted, while another user said “with such a major organizer and such a well-known event, this really pushes sportsmanship to the ground in shame.”

Super Falcons of Nigeria star striker, Uchenna Kanu, is in the news after she reportedly parted ways with her longtime Spanish girlfriend, Lidia Gomez, after a four-year relationship.

Global gossip magazine, Game Set and Match, reports that the 26-year-old Falcons star broke up with her lesbian lover over some unnamed differences.

The outlet informed that Kanu and Lidia, a Spanish interior designer, decided to end the relationship on a mutual note, but stopped following each other on their social media platforms.

It added that the sudden unfollowing spree between the pair and the deactivation of Lidia’s Instagram account had added impetus to the rumour that the two were no longer an item.

Kanu, who currently plays for NWSL club, Racing Louisville in the USA, reportedly met Linda when she was playing for Sevilla Femini FC in Spain but the distance could have contributed to the breakdown of the relationship.