Today I read a great story about the true meaning of good sportsmanship. It was during during a cross country race last December in Burlada, Navarre in Spain, as Basque runner Iván Fernández Anaya was in second place during a race behind leader Abel Mutai from Kenya.
About ten meters away from the finish line, apparently thinking that he had already finished the race, the Kenyan slowed down. Instead of taking advantage of the situation and running pass the African to claim victory, Fernández Anaya stopped behind Mutai and used hand gestures to communicate that the finish line was ahead of them and allowed Mutai to win the race.
According to a Vancouver Sun report, Fernández Anaya told the Spanish daily newspaper El País that he didn't deserve to win the race. "I did what I had to do. (Mutai) 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."
In a current sports environment of questionable ethics (read: Lance Armstrong), the story has made Fernández Anaya a fine (and rare) example of sportsmanship. How is it that the story did not break internationally until a month after it happened, but a non-sports story like the Manti Te'o fake girlfriend saga dominates sports media coverage?
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