A major marathon in Hong Kong was embroiled in controversy on Sunday after the organiser disqualified four mainland Chinese runners for wearing bibs that failed to match their identities.
The incident during the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon has sparked concerns about how to ensure runners wear the right bibs, with the organiser conducting an investigation to determine what happened.
The Post looks into bib management in major races and how cheating can be prevented.
1. What caused the disqualifications?
When the association verified winners’ identities after the races, they discovered that the runner who finished second in the 10km (6.2-mile) race, and the first- and second-place runners in the half-marathon, were wearing bib numbers that did not belong to them.
Three runners were immediately disqualified according to established procedures.
The incidents involved half-marathon runner He Yingbing and his compatriot Sun Xiaoyang, who had their bibs mixed up.
The third runner involved as Xu Guoge, who finished as runner-up in the men’s 10km and shared the same agent. He wore a bib assigned to another athlete, Lan Jiehuai, who finished sixth and was disqualified as the fourth runner.
