Ivan Fernandez is an 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. He is more famous for this event alone than for his profession athletics career.

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.

Ivan Fernandez, indeed was hailed by all and sundry for his sportsmanship and I admonish the rest of the World to learn from him.

3,239 thoughts on “THE WORLD SHOULD LEARN FROM IVAN FERNANDEZ”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *