Chinese fitness influencer apologises after being caught riding bicycle during Berlin Marathon
The influencer, known online as Abeeeer, initially celebrated a personal best record before photos emerged showing her riding pillion on a bicycle near the 38km mark.
The Chinese influencer Sun Yuanyuan, or more famously known by her Xiaohongshu or RedNote username Abeeeer, was caught cheating at the Berlin Marathon. (Photo: Instagram/@officialunofficialtime)
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Chinese fitness influencer Abeeeer, whose full name has been revealed on her racing bib to be Sun Yuanyuan, has apologised after being caught cheating in the Berlin Marathon.
The influencer, who has over 520,000 followers on Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, took part in the Berlin Marathon on Sep 27 and recorded a finishing time of 4 hours, 53 minutes and 46 seconds.
After the race, she shared photos from the event on social media and celebrated the result as a personal best.
Her performance soon came under scrutiny on Oct 1. The Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit (OMTIU), an Instagram account that scrutinises suspicious race results shared by running influencers, posted photographs showing Abeeeer riding pillion on a bicycle at around the 38km mark of the 42.195km race.
The account also showed her race data, highlighting how Abeeeer’s pace had generally slowed during the earlier stages of the marathon, but she suddenly completed the 5km stretch between the 35km and 40km marks in 30 minutes and 49 seconds – her fastest 5km split of the race.
OMTIU was started by two Australian runners and describes itself as an independent “online watchdog” scrutinising misleading or inaccurate race performances, particularly of influencers.
After the photographs emerged, Abeeeer publicly apologised on Oct 3, acknowledging that she rode a bicycle during the marathon and violated the race rules. She said she had been feeling physically unwell on the course but acknowledged that this did not justify what she did.
Her actions, she wrote in Chinese, showed disrespect for “the fairness of the competition and the spirit of the marathon”. She also admitted that she had purposely omitted what happened when sharing her race experience and result online.
“That was a very dishonest act,” she wrote, adding that she felt deeply guilty. She also removed all Berlin Marathon-related posts from her Xiaohongshu account.
On Oct 4, running brand Brooks China, which collaborated with Abeeeer ahead of the race, announced that it had terminated its partnership with her after verifying what had happened, adding that it would not work with her again. The company apologised and said it would strengthen its assessment of future collaborators.
Following the incident, some commenters have come to her defence, praising her for apologising and saying that “everyone makes mistakes”.
The influencer also continues to face backlash in her comments. Some claim that “she only apologised as she was caught”, while others have also pointed out how her account itself appeared “questionable”, as “she has 500,000 followers, but the engagement is practically zero”.
The influencer is far from the first runner to attract attention for finding an unconventional – and prohibited – way to the finish.
Rosie Ruiz was stripped of her 1980 Boston Marathon title after it emerged she had not run the full course, while 258 participants were penalised for cheating at the 2018 Shenzhen Half Marathon.
In 2019, three Chinese runners were also handed lifetime bans over forged qualifying results or bib swapping for the Boston Marathon.
Source: CNA/iz
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