Misleading image being spread about Mutai and Fernandez Historical Race!

Rare human qualities like kindness and honesty emerge in various aspects of society. Such good qualities emerge and surprise the audience even in very competitive sporting events. Information about those occasions is being spread on social media. However, some posts are misleading. This is our investigation into such misleading social media posts.

Social Media Posts

Social media posts are based on an image, say, a following story.

Kenyan runner Abel Mutai was only a few meters from the finish line but needed clarification with the signs and stopped, thinking he had finished the race. BA Spanish man, Ivan Fernandez, was right behind him and, realizing what was happening, started shouting to the Kenyan to keep running. Mutai did not know Spanish and needed help understanding.

Realizing what was going on, Fernandez pushed Mutai to victory.

A reporter asked Ivan, "Why did you do this?" Ivan replied, "My dream is that one day we can have some sort of community life where we push ourselves and also others to win."

The reporter 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 reporter insisted and asked 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 of this medal? What would my Mother think of it?" The values are transmitted from generation to generation. What values do we teach our children, and how much do you inspire others to earn? Most of us take advantage of people's weaknesses instead of helping to strengthen them.

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Users commented about this as below.

Fact Check

We found out that the story in the social media post is true.

This incident occurred on Dec. 2, 2012, at a cross-country race in the Navarre region of northern Spain, as reported by the Spanish national newspaper El Pais. The El Pais report can be read here. Archived.

A related video can be watched below.

A related photo of the incident was shared by Fernandez in 2020; that photo can be reached here.

From observing the above video and photo, we realised that although the story is true, the image with the viral post could be misleading.

From reverse image search, we searched the photo of a viral Facebook post and found it related to another two individuals.

The photo shared in the social media posts shows Mo Farah, a famous British athlete, celebrating winning the gold medal in the 10,000m final at the London 2012 Olympics with his then-training partner Galen Rupp of the United States. The related Getty image can be referred to here. Archived

However, we could not find the conversation between the journalist and Fernandez highlighted by social media posts.

However, it`s worth directing our attention to Fernandez's conversation with El Pais newspaper.

Below are some extractions from his quotes.

“In the Burlada cross-country race, there was hardly anything at stake [...] apart from being able to say that you had beaten an Olympic medalist,” says Fernández Anaya.

“But 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. Of course it would be another thing if there was a world or European medal at stake. Then, I think that, yes, I would have exploited it to win... But I also think that 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.”

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Conclusion

According to our investigation, we found out that the text of a viral social media post is true and related to some incident in 2012. However, the attached photo to some such posts is misleading and does not connect with that incident; it`s a separate incident related to different individuals.