Beijing - A Chinese thief stole a girl’s money but never expected the girl would turn out to be a running champion.

Chu Weiwei, from Chengdu city, was stopped by a man on her way shopping.

She explains: “He said to me that I had a good temperament and that he wanted to recruit me as his company’s image representative.”

Chen chatted with the “boss” in a nearby cafe but he ran off with her purse. When she sprinted after him he threw the purse towards her.

She said: “He never knew I was the running champion of Shandong province”, reports Tianfu Morning Post.