Now this is how you do it.
[Updating to add: from 2012]
A Spanish runner, Ivan Fernandez, was right behind him and, realizing what was happening, started shouting at the Kenyan to continue running. Mutai didn’t know Spanish and didn’t understand. Realizing what was taking place, Fernandez pushed Mutai to victory.
A journalist asked Ivan, “Why did you do that?”
Ivan replied, “My dream is that someday we can have a kind of community life where we push and help each other to win.”
The journalist 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 journalist insisted 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 in that medal? What would my mother think of that?”
That’s how you do it.
Comments
22 responses to “Just a few feet from the finish line”
It may be worth mentioning that this happened in 2012.
Added.
It’s nice to see that marathon incident again. But I am often struck by how much more “sportsmanship” I see in women’s sports than men’s. LPGA players can often be seen pulling for their competitors and admiring others’ good play. Not unheard of but rare in the PGA.
I get infuriated when TRAs use this phenomenon to describe women’s sports as being “more about participation and inclusion ” to defend the inclusion of TIMs, as if women weren’t as invested in competition.
The source in the link may be less than ideal but this story makes me well up every time.
https://www.insideedition.com/media/videos/florida-softball-teammates-help-injured-opposing-player-after-home-run-80107
Short version: College woman hits homer to win game but injures her ankle and can’t round bases as required. Her teammates forbidden to assist so opponents carried her to home plate.
Save Women’s Sports!!
Ah, thank you. Both stories make me well up!
This is why Carini apologized. She followed the rules and is a good sport, in spite of the unfairness. It’s called good character.
Well, no, I don’t think they’re the same kind of thing. Carini was cheated.
Many people are saying they think Carini was coerced into apologizing. Here’s Chloe Cole (retweeted by Helen Joyce):
https://x.com/ChoooCole/status/1819460897494245657
Ophelia @6 Probably so, a different type of doing the right thing, but Fernandez did not simply blow by Mutai. It technically wouldn’t have been cheating, but it would have been taking advantage of the situation unfairly, which he didn’t do, unlike some other athletes we have seen this week.
Sackbut @7 I think this is too cynical of a speculation. Carini is not the poor sport here, and I doubt if she wanted to be perceived that way.
I don’t think she was being a poor sport. I don’t think she owed anyone an apology. I suppose it’s possible she felt bad about avoiding the handshake, but I can easily imagine that the IOC and various sports organizations made it clear that she must apologize or else. The ones who are the poor sports are the ones who demanded that Khalif be allowed to compete. Carini showed character by ending the fight, by staying in the ring as the winner was announced, and by not saying anything after the match; an apology is above and beyond. That’s why I think it was coerced.
Well if it’s true that the ones who demanded Khalif be allowed to compete are the same as the ones that demanded Carini apologize, then they are truly contemptible people in my view. Talk about insult to injury.
Similar sportsmanship was displayed by Australian runner John Landy (the second man to run a suB 4 minute mile).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Landy
Were people better then? is it the intrusion of so much money that has engendered a win at all costs attitude? or has it been, and still is, that compassion is not an admired trait?
I don’t know, but I do know we need to celebrate the Landys and the Fernandezs whenever we can.
There do seem to be more people who don’t care about virtue or character these days. Or is it that they’re so much more visible now? There’s definitely more tolerance for it, which is the part I don’t understand.
twiliter @ 8, no, not a different type of doing the right thing, because I don’t think it’s the right thing at all.
Rev David, thanks for that.
Ophelia @14 I don’t either if it was coerced.
No, you’re still missing the point. Carini did nothing to apologize for. People should have been apologizing to her; she did nothing to apologize for.
I see. Thanks for clarifying.
Being a good sport is fine in general, but in a sitch where everyone else is being the worst possible sports, we must RESIST. [waves flag of resistance]
(This isn’t the most appropriate place for this comment, but I can’t find the one that prompted it.)
Someone mentioned recently that the video of the fight at which Angela Carini was beaten up by a man had been taken down. When I read this I thought that someone must have made a copy, so I looked, and found this:
https://tinyurl.com/CariniBoxing
I think this should get the widest possible circulation.
Of course, the person who posted this is at risk of a suit for copyright violation, but I’d be surprised if the copyright owner would want to explain in a public case why they wanted to keep it a secret.
The BBC website still has the video up: https://www.bbc.com/sport/olympics/articles/cw0yvln9z00o
Are you sure it isn’t just the IOC’s own footage that has been removed?
A C-B, #20. This is where you saw that the video had been taken down: https://www.butterfliesandwheels.org/2024/what-unfair-fight/