A top Chinese marathon runner has been disqualified from a recent event for smoking cigarette after cigarette as he ran the race, with organisers branding the 52-year-old's conduct "uncivilised behaviour".
"Uncle Chen", the "Smoking Brother", finished this year's Xiamen Marathon in just three hours and 33 minutes.
It's not the first time he's chain-smoked his way through a race. Canadian Running evidently broke his story in 2022.
But after the international attention that story received, the Chinese Athletic Association urged all marathons in the country to ban smoking – and now, Uncle Chen's been caught out by the rule.
An article in the Xiamen Marathon rules states: "Uncivilised behaviour from runners such as open defecation, smoking, or trampling on flower beds or green spaces that affect the race and the safety of other runners will result in disqualification."
That's exactly what's happened, despite the Smoking Brother's very respectable time.
A statement from marathon organisers on Weibo gives his real name as Chen Mouxian.
Another competitor was disqualified from the same race for "misappropriating the organising committee's first aid vehicle to rise on the track without authorisation".
Uncle Chen was first photographed puffing along the course during the 2018 Guangzhou Marathon.
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