Would You Be as Honest as This Runner?

In December 2012 during a cross-country race held in Burlada, Spain, Kenya’s champion Abel Kiprop Mutai was in the lead and certain of winning the event. But mistakenly thinking that he had crossed the finish line, Mutai pulled up nearly 10 meters before the finish.

What followed next was an unlikely story of pure sportsmanship: instead of grabbing the opportunity to win the gold, Ivan Fernandez Anaya caught up with Mutai and guided him into first place. Anaya preferred honesty to victory and became a world hero.

Spanish runner Ivan Fernandez Anaya guiding Kenyan racer Abel Mutai to victory  

“I didn’t deserve to win it,” says 24-year-old Fernández Anaya. “I did what I had to do. He was the rightful winner. He created a gap that I couldn’t have closed if he hadn’t made a mistake. As soon as I saw he was stopping, I knew I wasn’t going to pass him.”

But is this a true story of sportsmanship? in an interview later that year Anaya said: “In the Burlada cross-country race there was hardly anything at stake [...] apart from being able to say that you had beaten an Olympic medalist [...] But even if they had told me that winning would have earned me a place in the Spanish team for the European championships, I wouldn’t have done it either. Of course, it would be another thing if there was a world or European medal at stake. Then, I think that, yes, I would have exploited it to win... But I also think that I have earned more of a name having done what I did than if I had won. And that is very important, because today, with the way things are in all circles, in soccer, in society, in politics, where it seems anything goes, a gesture of honesty goes down well.”

There's no suggested takeaway this time. I nudge you to take a few minutes to think about this inspiring story and try to put yourself in Anaya's shoes: what would you have done?