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  • 2021-02-26 (xsd:date)
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  • ‘Kenyan Runner Abel Mutai Won a Race Due to Ivan Fernandez’s... (en)
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  • ‘Kenyan Runner Abel Mutai Won a Race Due to Ivan Fernandez’s Sportsmanship’ Viral Post Claim Kenyan runner Abel Mutai won a race after a fellow athlete, Spain's Ivan Fernandez, enabled him to maintain his lead. Rating Decontextualized Like this fact check? Reporting A January 21 2021 Facebook post about two athletes — Kenyan runner Abel Mutai and Spanish runner Ivan Fernandez — was shared more than 100,000 times in a little over a month: Kenyan runner Abel Mutai was only a few meters from the finish line, but got confused with the signs and stopped,... Posted by Tendai Reki Mashayamombe on Wednesday, January 20, 2021 The Post Alongside a photograph of two athletes hugging, a text-based status update explained: Kenyan runner Abel Mutai was only a few meters from the finish line, but got confused with the signs and stopped, thinking he had finished the race. BA Spanish man, Ivan Fernandez, was right behind him and, realizing what was going on, started shouting to the Kenyan to keep running. Mutai did not know Spanish and did not understand. Realizing what was going on, Fernandez pushed Mutai to victory. A reporter asked Ivan, Why did you do this? Ivan replied, My dream is that one day we can have some sort of community life where we push ourselves and also others to win. The reporter insisted But why did you let the Kenyan win? Ivan replied, I didn’t let him win, he was going to win. The race was his. The reporter insisted and asked again, But you could have won! Ivan looked at him and replied: But what would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor of this medal? What would my Mother think of it? The values are transmitted from generation to generation. What values do we teach our children and how much do you inspire others to earn? Most of us take advantage of people’s weaknesses instead of helping to strengthen them. IN THIS NEW YEAR, I WANT EVERYONE OF US TO WIN; LET’S PUSH ONE ANOTHER TO THE FINISHING LINE. WE ALL DESERVE VICTORY. Although the story included a share-worthy moral (promoting cooperation and fairness) and an image, no links to validate the claims were included. The Image A reverse image search indicated that the photograph attached to the post was crawled as early as March 2013. An Adobe stock image was the primary result for the photograph. Its caption did not mention the story being shared with the Facebook post: Britain’s Mohammed Farah hugs second-placed Galen Rupp of the U.S. after winning the men’s 10,000m final at the London 2012 Olympic Games By Lucy Nicholson / REUTERS Florida is where wokes go to die... Please enable JavaScript Florida is where wokes go to die An August 4 2012 post on LetsRun.com included the image, and reiterated that it showed a British runner named Mohammed Farah and an American runner named Galen Rupp: 2012 Olympic Men’s 10,000: Mo Farah Gets It Done In Front Of The Home Crowd As Galen Rupp Gets Historic Silver By LetsRun.com London, UK August 4, 2012 America, the 48-year-old drought is over. Before a sold-out 80,000-seat Olympic Stadium, Britain’s Mo Farah powered home to win the 10,000m, Britain’s third track gold medal of the night and first long-distance gold in 104 years, and right behind him for the silver was training partner, American Galen Rupp, winning America’s first men’s flat long-distance track medal since 1964, when Bob Schul and Billy Mills won 5,000m and 10,000m golds. The bronze went to Ethiopia’s Tariku Bekele, as he held off his brother, Kenenisa, who was unable to make Olympic history by winning his 3rd-straight Olympic 10,000 crown. Not uncommonly, a mismatched image and story were indicative of a feel-good, made-up story. The image did not depict Abel Mutai of Kenya or Ivan Fernandez of Spain, casting doubt on the veracity of the story. Did Kenyan Runner Abel Mutai Win Thanks to Spanish Runner Ivan Fernandez’s Good Sportsmanship? A search for any stories involving Abel Mutai and Ivan Fernandez led to a number things published in 2020 or later, but the story was told as having happened a few years ago. A USA Today item (Heartwarming proof that sportsmanship is not dead) was published in January 2013, but referenced Reddit as a source for the claim. That piece also referenced the Spanish athlete as Ivan Fernandez Anaya: Spanish runner Ivan Fernandez Anaya is still receiving attention for a race he lost on Dec. 2, 2012. Here’s why, as told by Spanish newspaper El Pais : He was running second, some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai — bronze medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the London Olympics. As they entered the finishing straight, he saw the Kenyan runner — the certain winner of the race — mistakenly pull up about 10 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line. [...] He was the rightful winner, Fernandez Anaya said. 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. Linked at the bottom was a January 2013 post to Reddit’s r/sports : Basque athlete refuses to win a race by taking advantage of an opponents mistake from sports A source provided by the original poster was a since-deleted Facebook post, and the trail went cold. Likewise, a short Wikipedia entry for Ivan Fernandez consisted primarily of a reference to the internet parable and a vast number of citation links — many of which linked to clickbait published in 2020: Iván Fernández (born 10 June 1988) is a Spanish athlete who competes for Spain internationally. He competes in long-distance running events, mostly cross country and marathon and is coached by Santi Pérez. A video of Fernández shoving a lost Abel Mutai towards the finish line during the Burlada Cross Country race, rather than passing Mutai and winning the race, went viral in January 2013. He was globally praised for his sportsmanship.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] He is more famous for this event alone than for his profession[al] athletics career. At least three citations were from 2013, but one of those (from Minnesota Public Radio) cited Facebook as a source: There’s so much bad information on Facebook that it’s refreshing when the accurate story comes along, even more so when it comes while America is obsessed with a liar and a cheater athlete. Ivan Fernandez Anaya is not such a person, and his story, which happened almost a month ago, is sweeping the Intertubes. Another 2013 link from NairobiWire.com also mentioned Spanish newspaper El Pais . Source Reporting vs. the Facebook Post An article published in December 2012 and updated in February 2013 on the English version of El Pais provided an account of the race: On December 2 [2012], Spanish athlete Iván Fernández Anaya was competing in a cross-country race in Burlada, Navarre. He was running second, some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai – bronze medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the London Olympics. As they entered the finishing straight, he saw the Kenyan runner – the certain winner of the race – mistakenly pull up about 10 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line. Fernández Anaya quickly caught up with him, but instead of exploiting Mutai’s mistake to speed past and claim an unlikely victory, he stayed behind and, using gestures, guided the Kenyan to the line and let him cross first. 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. The 2021 Facebook post with the mismatched photograph included the following passage, which was nowhere to be found in the El Pais article: A reporter asked Ivan, Why did you do this? Ivan replied, My dream is that one day we can have some sort of community life where we push ourselves and also others to win. The reporter insisted But why did you let the Kenyan win? Ivan replied, I didn’t let him win, he was going to win. The race was his. The reporter insisted and asked again, But you could have won! Ivan looked at him and replied: But what would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor of this medal? What would my Mother think of it? The values are transmitted from generation to generation. What values do we teach our children and how much do you inspire others to earn? Most of us take advantage of people’s weaknesses instead of helping to strengthen them. It was possible the quoted portion was part of 2012 or 2013 reporting no longer accessible on the internet, but a search for part of the phrase largely returned social media shares of the story as it appeared on Facebook in 2021. Fernandez Anaya was quoted by El Pais , and he did express his belief winning would have been meaningless under the circumstances (Abel Mutai’s erroneous understanding of the finish line). However, Fernandez Anaya also described the race as having hardly anything at stake. Another element absent from the story as it existed in 2021 was Fernandez Ayala’s assertion that had the stakes been higher, he would have exploited Mutai’s mistake in order to win: 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, says Fernández Anaya. 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. All of that said, Fernandez Anaya did alert Abel Mutai to the actual location of the finish line in the December 2012 Burlada cross-country race, taking second place and earning a permanent place on Facebook walls for many years to come. Both the photograph and seemingly quotes from Fernandez Anaya were embellished for Facebook engagement — a tactic that clearly worked, going by the share count and the story’s longevity. Summary In the embedded Facebook post above, a story about Abel Mutai of Kenya and Ivan Fernandez Anaya of Spain is relayed — alongside a photograph of two completely different athletes, from the U.S. and UK respectively. Although the underlying tale appeared to be true and the athletes correctly identified (if only by name), a speech attributed to Fernandez Anaya didn’t appear in the widely-cited original source story in El Pais . While Fernandez Anaya was quoted as pondering the merit of the victory and how it would alter how his mother viewed him, in actuality the told El Pais the race had low stakes and that if the event was of higher importance, he would have exploited the situation to win. However, in December 2012, Mutai’s lead and win was secured after Fernandez Anaya alerted him to the location of the finish line. Posted in Fact Checks , Viral Content Tagged abel mutai , abel mutai ivan fernandez story , ivan fernandez , viral facebook posts (en)
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