Chinese Athletic Association proposes smoking bans at all marathons

The Uncle Chen era has come and gone. On Dec. 5, the Chinese Athletic Association (C.A.A.) released a proposal recommending that all Chinese marathons ban smoking.

Last month, Chen went viral after he was seen running a 3:28 marathon while smoking a cigarette at the 2022 Zhejiang Jiande Xin’anjiang Marathon in Jiande City, China. The smoking runner, nicknamed Uncle Chen, was predominantly seen as cool by foreign media but was viewed as a bad example in China.

“It is not only not something to be proud of, but a shame to become popular abroad,” one journalist writes. “Smoking is harmful to health, and there should be no “smoking brother” in the marathon.”

On Dec. 5, the Chinese Athletics Association issued a “Marathon Civilized and Healthy Participation” rule proposal for marathons to follow, which states that “all runners should practice and abide by the regulations on smoking bans in public places, and be civilized, healthy, and positive citizens.”

The new proposal is in place to promote healthy participation and to stop people from smoking at road-running events. However, the proposal by the C.A.A. has no mandatory binding force, and races have the final decision to comply, or not, with the suggested initiatives.

The responsibility will be on race organizers to make the decision regarding smoking at their races, but the C.A.A. states that it’s necessary to advocate for the health and safety of other runners and eliminate “smoking brothers.”

The C.A.A. recommends that those who fail to comply with the competition rules should be disqualified: “Competitors are forced to compete in a civilized manner, and jointly maintain and create a civilized, healthy and fair competition environment.”

This news would come as a shock to Chen, who has been seen smoking at marathons since 2018. He might need to start racing abroad to continue his running career and to chase that smoking 3:25 Boston Marathon qualifying time.

posted Friday December 9th
by Running Magazine