Is winning all that counts?

Ivan Fernandez Anaya is a 24 years old Basque runner. He is considered an athlete with a big future (champion of Spain of 5,000 meters in promise category two years ago). 

On December 2, 2012, Fernandez was competing in a cross-country race in Burlada, Navarre, Spain. He was running second, some distance behind race leader Abel Mutai - bronze medalist in the 3,000-meter steeplechase at the London Olympics. As they entered the finishing straight, the Kenyan runner - certain winner of the race - mistakenly pull up about 100 meters before the finish, thinking he had already crossed the line.

Fernández quickly caught up with him, but instead of exploiting Mutai's mistake to speed past and claim an unlikely victory, he stayed behind the Kenyan, guided him up to the line and let him cross first.

"I ran close to him 4 km. He was 5 m ahead of me. At 250 m he increased speed and I tried to keep up with him. [..] Mutai saw an arch made of balloons. It was something for the award ceremony. He didn't realize, he thought it was the finish line. He started to greet the public, to send them kisses. I shouted from the back that he still had 100 m to go. He didn't understand. From the sidelines they were shouting that I should take advantage of the situation because the boy already opened the champagne. How would you feel about that ?  I ran up to him and touched him but he looked confused. So I pushed him, I actually yelled at him. I am not sure what he understood, but he was the first to pass the finish line. He had won."

After the race, Fernandez added :

"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 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 anything seems to go, a gesture of honesty goes down well."

Unfortunately, very little was said of his gesture. 

This is a great example to meditate upon... Do you practice your art to win, or to build up character and a better society ?

You can read Ivan Fernandez' Blog in Spanish.

I encourage you to please share this story with your students or kids.

The Value of Traditional Kata

During the last edition of the Yoshukai Tournament in Dothan on October 30, 2010. I was watching a weapons kata competition. 2 black belt were opposed in that group. One competed with a traditional sai kata - Yosei no Sai, one competed with a non traditional Sword Kata.

The traditional Sai kata was that : Traditional. There needs to be nothing flashy about fighting. If you watch the video of Yamamoto and Koda Sensei performing Sai tai Bo, you will see nothing fancy, but sharp and short moves right to the point. Basically if you are in front of  someone who masters all the moves of Yosei no Sai, it is going to be very difficult to reach them unless you own a a gun.

The Sword Kata was very fancy, a mixture of Iaido and twirling baton, that flashy sword was everywhere, flashing in everybody's eyes. Yes, it was impressive to the untrained eye. jumps, multiple drawings, loud kiai... But practically, anyone with 2 to 3 years of traditional kendo or kenjutsu training could have cut in the middle of this dance with a mere boken (Wooden sword) or Jo (short wooden staff)  and whacked senseless the competitor on the head. 

Nevertheless, this last competitor, even after being unable to properly perform noto (slide the blade back in its sheath) won the trophy.

After all these years, even if I should have gotten used to this kind of things, that just made me angry. I still can't accept mediocrity. The problem is not in the competitor, but in the judges who let such fallacy go on. Here we had 5 judges supposedly highly competent in their own style of Martial Art, and they graded a flashy dance without any martial value above a well executed traditional form. If these persons are not able to see the actual fighting value of a traditional kata properly executed, versus a non traditional routine poorly done, maybe they should not be judging in a Karate Tournament. 

Chris Wheeles performed the Sai Kata in Dothan. He just opened his own Dojo in Gulf Shore, AL. If you wish to practice good and traditional Karate, give him a try.