Comments on: Japanese Barred From Beijing Marathon Unless They Run Under Non-Japanese Nationality [UPDATE]

By: » Today’s Beijing Marathon Featured Gangnam Style And At Least One Runner In Spider-Man Getup Beijing Cream

Sun, 25 Nov 2012 11:29:05 +0000

[...] year’s Beijing Marathon had its share of hiccups. During registration, Japanese runners were initially barred, leading people to call for the race to lose its “Gold Label” accreditation from the [...]

By: » Man Faints During Inaugural Guangzhou Marathon, Still In Critical Condition Beijing Cream

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 06:00:54 +0000

[...] that there will be 20,000 participants in the competition”; to the best of our knowledge, Japanese runners were allowed to compete). Ethiopians, per the norm, won: Bekana Daba Tolesa, on the men’s side, ran the 26-mile race [...]

By: SRG

SRG — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:59:50 +0000

The Beijing Marathon is a cheap joke, it exists only as a another phoney tick on Beijing’s “the events a world city should have” check-list.

The original start date of October 14 was cancelled without notice, at the behest of some paranoid apparatchik, just days before the race, with runners given only a hazy promise that it would be rescheduled at a yet to be confirmed later date.

Now compare this for a moment with the New York Marathon, an event that’s recent cancellation due to Hurricane Sandy caused genuine consternation.

Why? Because it’s a meaningful part of the city’s calendar.

It’s obvious to all that BJ city chiefs couldn’t give a flying fuck about the marathon, nor the thousands of runners who spend months preparing for it, for them it’s just another perfunctory garland to hang from their office wall.

I sincerely hope the IAAF does the right thing, and removes its endorsement of next years race. Xenophobic racist bullshit – like the episode described above – ought to have no place in sport – especially not a sport as egalitarian as long distance running.

By: Kevin P

Kevin P — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 02:43:11 +0000

There’s definitely some weirdness going on – Ireland appears between Iran and Iraq, for example. But it’s not based on domain names, because otherwise Ireland (.ie) would appear before Iran (.ir). Nor is it 3-letter ISO country codes (Ireland is IRL, which would be before IRN), or Chinese alphabetical order (Iraq and Iran both start with 伊, while Ireland starts with 爱)

By: grusl

grusl — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 01:59:37 +0000

Seems to be in order of website suffix, not alphabet. Micronesia (.fm) is before Gabon (.gb or something)

By: KopyKatKiller

KopyKatKiller — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 13:20:06 +0000

China fail.

By: King Baeksu

King Baeksu — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 12:00:44 +0000

“But officials have now updated their website to include “Japan” in the list of applicants’ nationalities, after the Japanese Embassy in Beijing lodged a protest, the leading Yomiuri Shimbun daily and Jiji Press said.”

Lol, the damage has already been done, regardless.

Han ethnocentrism and adroit international P.R. don’t seem to be a very good mix. Didn’t anyone at the Beijing Marathon see this coming?

By: King Baeksu

King Baeksu — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 10:37:02 +0000

And the loser yet again… Chinese “soft power.”

Lol.

By: Kevin McGeary

Kevin McGeary — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 09:10:19 +0000

I don’t think there’s a facepalm image anywhere on the entire internet that would be a proportionate response to this.

By: jdmartinsen

jdmartinsen — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 08:59:37 +0000

The Chinese Athletic Association said that the Beijing Marathon has always been open to runners from across the world, including Japan, and offered as a totally-believable explanation for the absence of "Japanese" as a nationality on the registration page the claim that Japanese runners typically participate in groups rather than applying individually, and therefore had not been included on the official website. (source)