This is a story that has been doing the rounds of social media this week. Under the title Honesty of the long-distance runner it tells of the generosity of Spanish athlete Iván Fernández Anaya. Coming towards the finish in a cross-country race he was in second place – some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai (a bronze medalist in the 3000m steeplechase at the London Olympics). On seeing the Kenyan runner mistakenly stop about 10m before the finish, Fernández Anaya quickly caught up with him, and instead of exploiting Mutai’s mistake, he stayed behind guiding the Kenyan to the finish and letting him cross first.

Fernández Anaya is reported as saying: “I didn’t deserve to win it, I did what I had to do. He was the rightful winner. He created a gap that I couldn’t have closed if he hadn’t made a mistake . . . even if they had told me that winning would have earned me a place in the Spanish team for the European championships, I wouldn’t have done it either . . . I have earned more of a name having done what I did than if I had won. And that is very important, because today, with the way things are in all circles, in soccer, in society, in politics, where it seems anything goes, a gesture of honesty goes down well.”

An inspiring story and I’m glad it has come to light. It’s taken time, though. The race was on 2 December and the first report on 14 December (here). It seems good news stories still travel much more slowly than bad news!