No, photo does not show Spanish runner helping Kenyan opponent win race in the Paris Olympics

What is the claim?

A photo of two runners participating in a race is circulating on social media claiming it shows a Spanish runner helping a Kenyan runner win a race in the Paris Olympics. The image is circulating on social media with the title, in Telugu, "Spanish athlete displayed the highest standards of ethics in the Paris Olympics 2024." From the names on the jerseys of these athletes, we can identify the leading athlete as Abel Mutai, and the trailing one is Iván Fernández. 

The post claims that Mutai had stopped at a line, thinking it was the finishing line, and that Fernández then guided him, telling him that it was not the finish line and that he needed to run further to reach it, helping the Kenyan athlete to win the race. 

The post further states that when a journalist questioned why the Spanish athlete helped the Kenyan athlete when he could have won the race, he replied, "The Kenyan athlete was anyhow poised to win the race. He was just unable to understand the language. Had I crossed him and won the Gold medal, that victory would have no value. My mother would not have approved of such a win. So, I helped him. We all have to help each other. We must imbibe such humanistic values and pass them on to the next generations." Archives of such posts can be accessed here, here, here, and here. 

Screenshots of the viral social media posts (Source: Facebook/WhatsApp/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, this incident is not from 2024 Paris Olympics. It happened in Spain in 2012.

What did we find?

When we ran the image through the reverse image search, we found reports that the incident was from 2012.

According to a February 2013 report in Spanish newspaper El Pais, which includes the viral photo, the incident happened on December 2, 2012. The report stated that the incident took place during a cross-country event in Burlada, Navarre, in Northern Spain.

Screenshot of the photo on El Pais website with the date of the report (Source: El Pais)

Reports from various other media outlets, such as Fair Play International and Nairobi Wire from 2013, that carried the same photo, corroborate these details. Basque public broadcaster Euskal Irrati Telebista published the video of the incident on its official YouTube channel on January 18, 2013, further corroborating the details.

Iván Fernández shared the same photo on his official Instagram account (archived here) on December 3, 2023, with the tile, "Today marks 11 YEARS, one of the days that mark my life. Thanks to EVERYONE for your kindness and for helping to spread great values ​​around the world [sic]."

Screenshot of the Instagram post by Iván Fernández on the incident (Source: Instagram/Ivánfernandezan)

Neither Fernández nor Mutai participated in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This clearly shows that the incident dates back to 2012 in Spain.

The verdict

An incident in which a Spanish athlete helped his Kenyan counterpart win a race in Spain in 2012 has been shared as an incident from the recently concluded 2024 Paris Olympics.