China fines runners out of respect for sponsors

[WJMorris3]

BEIJING, Dec 13 - China has punished four of its athletes who failed to properly display a sponsor's trademark on their chests while running in the Beijing Marathon in October.

The Chinese Athletic Association (CAA) fined men's runner-up Ren Longyun 10,000 yuan ($1,360) in a decision made out of "respect for the sponsor", it said on its Web site (www.athletics.org.cn/)

Three other runners, including women's runner-up Zhang Yingying, were fined 3,000 yuan.

A report in the China Youth Daily on Thursday said it was the first such punishment handed down by the athletics association.

"From now on, athletes' education will be boosted to protect the overall interests of the marathon," the paper quoted Wang Dawei, a deputy director of CAA, as saying.

A photograph posted on the association's Web site showed Ren's chest number half unpinned, and hanging down to obscure sponsors' logos.

"It not only obscured his number and the (sponsor's) trademark, it also exposed another sponsor," the paper said.

Sheesh, now this is logo creep gone too far.