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Olympic competition ends in drama
Thirty-six kilometres into the men's Olympic marathon on Sunday, Vanderlei Lima's chances of winning were taken from him after he was tackled in bizarre manner by the Irish serial pest Cornelius Horan. Brazil's Lima had led the race for almost 20 kilometres, at times by almost a minute. A chasing group led by Stefano Baldini of Italy had reduced the lead to 28 seconds and closing.
What happened next effectively ended whatever chance Lima had of hanging on to a gold medal. Horan, dressed in a national-style costume bearing the words "the Silverstone GP priest", rushed on to the course, tackled Lima, and bundled him off the road. The words were a reference to when Horan, who styles himself as a priest, ran on to the Silverstone track during the running of the British Formula One Grand Prix. He was jailed for two months for that offence. Horan was immediately tackled by another spectator and Lima broke free, returning to the race looking shocked and shaken, but otherwise unhurt. Lima's lead had now almost evaporated, down to around 10 seconds. Within another kilometre, Baldini rushed by, followed by Mebrahtom Keflezighi of the US. The Italian went on to win the gold medal in two hours 10 minutes 55 seconds, a course record on the traditional Marathon to Athens course. Keflezighi took the silver in 2:11:29. Amazingly, Lima held on for the bronze medal in 2:12:11. Even more amazingly, he looked overjoyed to get it, spreading his arms out in aeroplane style as he approached the line. Along with his bronze medal, which was presented by IOC president Jaques Rogge, he received a Pierre de Courbetin medal and an official apology. "As you know I continued after the incident in the Olympic spirit and finished the race," Lima said. The incident robbed both Lima and Baldini. Lima was convinced he would have held on to win. "Someone simply attacked me with his whole body," said Lima. "Someone simply hurled himself at me in the middle of the street. I didn't know what was going on." Baldini would have been hard to stop, but his victory will be forever marked with a footnote. It is unfair to him, too, even if to nowhere near the same degree as to Lima. The incident raised issues of Olympic security, especially on road race courses. Yet it is virtually impossible to guarantee 42-kilometres of road, other than with shoulder-to-shoulder police or military. Lima said the race must be open to the fans. "Obviously the public has to watch from close-up. [Closing the course] would be a bad thing for the race. We need the support from the fans. We don't want to prohibit the fans from watching the marathon." Baldini was convinced that he would have won regardless, saying he was running 20 seconds a kilometre faster than Lima at the finish. "I believe I would have won. I believe I would have caught him one kilometre later. but I would have caught him." There have been other incidents of intervention in Olympic marathon history. Frank Shorter of the US, the last winner of a men's Olympic marathon to successfully lead as long as Lima would have had to, had his moment of glory stolen in Berlin when a hoaxer wearing shorts, T-shirt and runners jumped onto the course near the stadium and ran past security to be first "competitor" into the stadium. In London in 1908 Dorando Pietri of Italy was assisted across the line by unwitting officials, leading to his disqualification. Nothing like this, however, has occurred in Olympic marathon history although IRA protesters did attempt to bundle several runners off the course in the 1973 world cross-country championships. |
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