Influencer Apologises For Cheating At The Berlin Marathon After A Pic Of Her On A Bike Goes Viral

A Chinese influencer has apologised after she dropped by her sponsor and disqualified for riding on the back of a bike during the Berlin marathon. In another wild story from the fitness world, Sun Yuanyuan , famously known as Abeeer on the Chinese social media platform RedNote (locally known as Xiaohongshu) has since apologised to her 533K followers after she was exposed for cheating at the Berlin Marathon. According to scathing images shared by the Official Marathon Time Integrity Unit (OMTIU) — an IG page dedicated to “p rotecting the integrity of the marathon, upholding chip times and exposing Strava inflation” — Yuanyuan was snapped riding on the back of a bike. “Evidence of an athlete allegedly hitching a ride from the 38km mark to the finish line to collect their medal,” the organisation wrote. Would you rather: HYROX poo or get caught in 4K cheating? (Image source: Instagram / @officialunofficialtime) Alongside the bike image, OMTIU also shared images detailing the influencer's run time, calling attention to Yuanyuan's split time between the 35- 40 km run. They also called out Yuanyuan's sponsor. One of the posts that called out Yuanyuan's time. (Image source: Instagram / @officialunofficialtime) “@brooksrunning quickly flying up the leaderboard of brands who sponsor marathon integrity offenders,” OMTIU wrote. Sun Yuanyuan admits to “violating the race rules” at the Berlin Marathon Taking to RedNote, Yuanyuan apologised and admitted to jumping on the back of the bike during the final stretch of the marathon. “I want to sincerely apologise to everyone,” she began. “Regarding my riding a bicycle during the Berlin marathon, I admit it violated the race rules, and I won't make any excuses for this behaviour.” Yuanyuan claimed she felt “physically unwell on the course” but said that it's not an excuse for her to break the rules. “My attempt to take a shortcut was disrespectful to the fairness of the competition and the spirit of the marathon,” she continued. “After the race, I deliberately hid this fact when sharing my experience with others. That was very dishonest and went against the sportsmanship of fair play in marathons. I feel deeply guilty about this.” Yuanyuan's full apology. (Image source: Instagram / @officialunofficialtime) Per the BBC , Yuanyuan has been dropped by her sponsor, Brooks China, and her final time has been disqualified. In a statement to OMTIU, which has since been reshared by The Independent , Brooks apologised and admitted that this incident was “an oversight". “We learned of the collaborators' preparation plan and race goals for the Berlin Marathon before the race, reached a cooperation agreement for their participation in this overseas event and provided them with race equipment support,” the statement read. “After the race, although we verified the finishing results and related text, images, and video materials they provided, we did not conduct a thorough and detailed review of the entire participation process — especially information such as segment data.” At the time of writing, Yuanyuan has deleted all traces of the marathon from her social media accounts.