Fran Orive was born in Barbate, lives in Jerez, and works for Iberia, where he has been a handling agent since 2003, and for the past four years has worked in a number of administrative capacities –coordination, traffic agent, operations– at Jerez airport. On June 30, he competed in the Ironman European Championships in Frankfurt, where he became a star. Would you like to know why?
“I've spent the whole year carefully preparing to complete an Ironman triathlon competition for the first time in my liefe, and I chose Frankfurt. I was one of 3,500 participants from 55 countries.
The heat was almost the hardest thing about the race –40 C– even though I have been trained to run under the sun when I'm coordinating flights by Iberia and other airlines at Jerez airport. I stopped at all the refreshment points to shower, eat, and drink, in order to be able to complete the race, which was very long. I wanted to finish and to enjoy myself, without the pressure of being a professional.
When I had about two kilometres left to run in the marathon, I saw a woman about to collapse, and it looked like nobody was going to help her. Without thinking twice, I ran to her and held her up while I called for the health services. When they arrived, I rejoined the race.
I finished the swimming, cycling, and running races, a total of 226 km., in 12 hours and 15 minutes, coming in 19th in my category amongst the Spaniards taking part.
When I returned to Spain, I began to receive text and Whatsapp messages and calls from the media. It turned out that the woman I helped, Sarah True from the United States, was then leading the race in her category, and had just one kilometre to go to finish seven minutes ahead of her nearest rival.
I told everyone the same thing: I was there to enjoy the race, and I didn't care at all whether I finished ten minutes sooner or ten minutes later. At the Barbate football school and in my family, I was taught that you have to help your companions, whether they're on your team or the other team.
What I did was normal. It's become news, but I'm not a hero. A hero for helping someone? But I am proud and grateful for people's reactions.”
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