When winning is not the right thing
Running in second place at some distance in a cross country run, an athlete sees the front runner slowing down few paces from the finish, mistakenly believing he has already crossed the line. What happens next is pretty odd…
It is a truism to say that athletes are motivated by winning — they want to jump the highest or the farthest, or be the first to cross the finish line. Most will play fair and refrain from doping or using illegal equipment, and all try to perform the best they can, aiming for the coveted victory. Or sometimes maybe not.
An early Christmas present
A few weeks before Christmas 2012, Abel Mutai from Kenya, the 3000m bronze medallist in the 3000m steeplechase at the London Olympics earlier that year, was running a cross-country race in Spain. He had gained an unassailable lead over the second placed runner, Iván Fernández Anaya, and was about to cross the finish line when, surprisingly, he seemed to stall just a few paces short. Not understanding the Spanish signage, he thought he had already crossed the line. Fernández could have easily overtaken Mutai and legitimately won the race. Instead, he gestured to his rival and guided the Kenyan towards the finish and let him…
