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
