A Chinese fitness influencer has been dropped by her sponsor after she apologized for riding a bicycle during the Berlin Marathon, which took place at the end of September.
Incident Overview
Sun Yuanyuan, known as Abeeeer on Chinese social media, had claimed a personal best during the event. However, an Instagram page dedicated to monitoring inaccurate or misleading race times posted a picture that appeared to show Sun on a bicycle between the 35km and 40km marks.
Apology and Consequences
Sun apologized and admitted to "breaking the rules." The running shoe company Brooks has ended its sponsorship deal with her, and her finish time has been disqualified by the marathon organizers.
An Instagram account calling itself the Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit (OMTIU) posted a photo of Sun apparently on the back of a bike being ridden by another person during the marathon. The page also shared a grid of Sun's "splits"—the times taken to complete different 5km segments of the race—which indicated that she sped up between the 35km and 40km marks, when she was allegedly on the bike.
