Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bruno Ferra on January 23, 2013 at 11:24am

I think it is a moron ... I don't like his way of doing things ... This is my opinion ... 

Permalink Reply by LShieldes on January 23, 2013 at 11:28am

I don't like choosing either word.

I just like that it shows that some people care more about the sport and everything involved more than just winning.

I love the olympics because I love the personal stories, watching the athletes come in from pissant countries that have no chance in hell to win, but they still compete. I love watching our highly paid athletes jockeying in to see these people compete for the love of the sport.

Basically, there is more to life, this guy gets that.

Permalink Reply by Jack Bauer on January 23, 2013 at 11:34am

So which is it gents? Is this guy a gentlemen or a moron? Is he a hero or does he represent all that is bad about modern competition (i.e., we're all winners, try your best, everyone gets a medal...)?

 

Everybody didn't get a medal ... so that can't be it.

 

I don't think he was courageous or an idiot.  He was a guy that didn't want a medal with an asterisk.  Or a guy to whom the medal was meaningless if there was a faster man on the course.  Strikes me as substance over style.  He didn't want it if he didn't earn it ... and he didn't think he'd earned it.

JB

Permalink Reply by Liam S. on January 23, 2013 at 11:46am

He didn't want it if he didn't earn it ... and he didn't think he'd earned it.

+1

Permalink Reply by Daniel on January 23, 2013 at 12:15pm

+2

Permalink Reply by Jared Moon on January 23, 2013 at 12:14pm

Perhaps I should have been a bit clearer on the last paragraph. I wasn't saying that everyone received a medal, simply that the mainstream thinking in sports today seems to be the whole "it isn't if you win or lose, its how you play the game." This is a mantra for children and amateurs, not competing adults. These guys are professionals. They were in it to win it.

I'm all for good sportsmanship, but I don't think this counts. As I said before, distance runners use strategy as much as athleticism to win. I think everyone is getting emotionally tied up in the fact that this happened in the last bit of the race. This exact situation could have happened earlier in the race and Fernandez would have been expected to capitalize on it. It would not have been a newsworthy event. Why does this change simply because it happened later in the race? How is Mutai not responsible for his lack of awareness?

I'll remind you that this was not a high school track meet or the Special Olympics. Again, these guys are professional athletes. Maybe when we hear "Kenyan" we think of some poor, disadvantaged third-world resident whose family scrimped and saved to send him to this event in which he was only a long-shot to win. This is not the case. I'll refer you here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abel_Mutai

No appologies. I have zero sympathy for Mutai, only contempt for Fernandez.

Permalink Reply by LShieldes on January 23, 2013 at 12:22pm

We got your point the first time through

Permalink Reply by Jared Moon on January 23, 2013 at 12:41pm

Great. So how do you justify Fernandez's action? Let's take this to a ridiculous extreme. Let's say that Mutai is the best 3000M runner in the world, hands down. No one else has any chance of winning this race. 100M into the race, he falls and sprains his ankle. Does everyone else recognize his superiority and let him win?

This is obviously unrealistic, but applying your logic this is the "sportsman-like" thing to do. I'll say it again--situational awareness and strategy are PART AND PARCEL of distance racing. By lauding what Fernandez did, we are by default also excusing a lack of awareness that is inexcusable in a professional athlete.

As I said previously, if this had happened 500M into the race and Fernandez would have won, it wouldn't have been newsworthy. Why is the last 50M any different?

Permalink Reply by LShieldes on January 23, 2013 at 12:49pm

That he understands what class is

Permalink Reply by Jared Moon on January 23, 2013 at 1:19pm

I guess I'm still confused. I would see Fernandez as classy if Mutai had broken his leg feet from the finish line or had been tackled by a rabid fan or something. If Fernandez had allowed him to cross first in those cases, it would be classy. Instead, Mutai blew it and we praise Fernandez for letting him win. The next time Manning throws a pick, should the defender be "classy" and return the ball because Peyton didn't see him? How can you excuse a world class runner for not knowing where he was in the race?

Permalink Reply by Jesse W. Rowlings on January 23, 2013 at 1:00pm

I'd say that it is neither courageous or idiotic, simply kind. Let's draw a similar situation - you're walking behind a foreigner, they have absolutely no idea of your country's language, symbols, anything. They pick up a sum of $50 dollars on the side of the path. Unsure of what this paper is, they throw it aside. The Spanish athlete would have helped the foreigner to understand what they had done.

If the Kenyan athlete had fallen, or somehow made some mistake other than a simple misunderstanding, it would have been idiotic for the Spanish athlete to hand him victory. But, it was an honest, silly error. I have actually made the very same mistake in a cross country. Stopped to get a drink after I thought I'd crossed the line, only to find out that it wasn't the line after someone handing out drinks told me so, fortunately I was far enough ahead to continue and not have this choice arise for my nearest competitor :P

Permalink Reply by Jared Moon on January 23, 2013 at 2:05pm

I hear you, and maybe idiotic is too strong a word. However, you can't compare a high school athlete and an Olympic bronze medalist. This guy is an elite. If he's like many Kenyan runners, he does it for a living and is highly paid for his wins. For him, there is no excuse.

As to the idea that a language barrier had something to do with it, this is yet another excuse. This is an international event. Mutai was not the only non Spanish speaking competitor. While I understand that this was a cross country event (where your location isn't always obvious), look at the picture accompanying the story. Fans around the track. Huge red arch marking the finish line. These athletes are obviously at the end of the race.

Again, I fail to understand how there is any "class" in not taking advantage of an opponent's tactical blunder.

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