Second Place Winner

 

This is the name of a winner:  

Ivan Fernandez Anaya.

OK, he didn’t win…

He came second in the race,

and his coach may have been

unhappy with that…

but, really, he won.

During a cross-country race,

his goodness and

sense of fair play really shone.

The race was close to finished…

Ivan was coming second. 

Abel Mutai was winning…

but, Abel got confused

about where the finish line was…

He stopped running too early.  

He was still meters away

from the finish line.

As Ivan ran up to him,

 he saw the error,

and could easily have raced past

 and claimed first place.

He didn’t.

He ran right up to Abel Mutai

and pointed to the finish line.

 

He stayed behind Abel

until the race had been won.

Ivan claimed second and was

 immensely proud of his efforts.

Ivan later said:

“I didn’t deserve to win it”.

He explained:

“He was the rightful winner.

He created a gap that I couldn’t

 have closed if he hadn’t made a mistake.”

Because the two men had

little common language between them,

Abel’s thanks were quite simple

in words,

but heartfelt in meaning.

Ivan hopes that his decision

to let fairness

overcome the need for winning

might help children everywhere

to see what is really important.

Although Ivan came second…

it’s probably the best second place

 he could ever take.

Champion.

Ivan’s facebook page