I didn’t deserve to win it. I did what I had to do. He was the rightful winner.
What it means
A win that comes only from your rival’s mistake isn’t really yours. Abel Mutai had built a lead that Fernández Anaya says he “couldn’t have closed,” so the race belonged to Mutai, whatever the finish line said.
“I did what I had to do” frames it as an obligation, not a favour: he didn’t see letting Mutai win as generous, just as correct.
The context
On 2 December 2012, Fernández Anaya was running second in a cross-country race in Burlada, in Navarre in northern Spain, some distance behind the leader, Abel Mutai of Kenya, who had won bronze in the 3,000-metre steeplechase at the London Olympics. In the finishing straight, Mutai pulled up about 10 metres before the line, thinking he had already finished. Fernández Anaya caught up with him but, instead of running past, stayed behind and, using gestures, guided him to the line and let him cross first.
His coach, the former world marathon champion Martín Fiz, called it “a very good gesture of honesty,” and added: “A gesture that I myself wouldn’t have made.” Fernández Anaya was honest about the limits, too. Little was at stake in Burlada, he said, and if a world or European medal had been, “I think that, yes, I would have exploited it to win.” But he also thought “I have earned more of a name having done what I did than if I had won.” A video of the finish went viral in January 2013.
Why it matters
The moment when nobody would blame you for taking an advantage is exactly when integrity shows. Fernández Anaya could have won within the rules; he asked a different question, which was whether he had earned it.
His candour about what he might have done with a medal at stake makes the story more useful, not less. Integrity is easier when the stakes are small, and small stakes are where the habit of asking “did I earn this?” gets built.
About Iván Fernández Anaya
Spanish long-distance runner, born 1988
Iván Fernández Anaya was born on 10 June 1988 in Vitoria, Spain, and runs long-distance events for Spain, mostly cross-country and the marathon. In 2012 he was training in Vitoria’s Prado Park under Martín Fiz, the European marathon champion of 1994 and world champion of 1995.
He became known around the world in January 2013, when a video spread of him guiding Abel Mutai to the finish line of a race in Burlada rather than overtaking him. He went on to win bronze over 5,000 metres at the 2014 Ibero-American Championships and to run the marathon for Spain at the 2017 World Championships in London.
The source, and how we checked it
It comes from Interview with El País after a cross-country race in Burlada, Navarre, December 2012.
The full passage:
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. As soon as I saw he was stopping, I knew I wasn’t going to pass him.
We matched the quote word for word against El País's English edition. He spoke in Spanish, and the English is El País's own translation. We last checked this on 5 November 2026.