THE Olympics ended in an astonishing security lapse last night when a Brazilian who was easily leading the marathon was pushed to the ground by a spectator, lost about 20 seconds and eventually ended up third in the race held over the original course of 1896, when the first modern Games were held.
It was a disastrous finale to the Games, on which $1 billion had been spent on security, as the intruder, dressed in a kilt and a green beret, shoved Vanderlei de Lima to the road just after 20 miles, when he was leading by 40 seconds. There were no security guards in the immediate vicinity of the incident.
As the two men and spectators tumbled to the ground, De Lima, 35, desperately tried to recover his feet. He restarted running but clearly was shaken. His rhythm had been interrupted and he began to fade. Within a mile, he was overtaken by Stefano Baldini, of Italy, who went on to win, and Mebrahtom Keflezighi, of the United States.
The jury of the IAAF said that the result of the race would stand. The IOC last night said that in recognition of Vanderlei de Lima’s “exceptional demonstration of fair play and Olympic values”, it would present him with the medal of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Games.
Police confirmed last night that the intruder was Cornelius Horan, a former Roman Catholic priest. Last year he ran on the track at Silverstone during the British Formula One Grand Prix, an incident for which he was jailed for two months. After the Silverstone incident, Horan was put on a security risk list for all British sports events and in this year’s London Marathon was restrained when he attempted to get on to the course in The Mall.
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De Lima said: “It was crazy on the course. For me it was very bad. If that spectator did not jump in front of me in the middle of the race, who knows what would have happened ? Maybe I would have won. I have trained for this race and am happy with the bronze.”
Baldini won in 2hr 10min 55sec. Keflezighi was second in 2:11:29 and De Lima recorded 2:12:11. Jon Brown, of Britain, was fourth for the second successive Games, 15 seconds farther back.
De Lima had looked in command of the race until the incident. The virtual unknown, from Cruzeiro do Oeste, who played football until the age of 16 when he was invited by his PE teacher to compete in regional games, had broken away from the field as they headed towards the Panathinaiko Stadium.
He was running smoothly and, at 18 miles, had built up a lead of 47 seconds over Baldini, the former European champion, and Keflezighi, who emigrated from Eritrea at the age of 10, first to Italy and then to United States where he became a US citizen in 1998.