Marathon leader attacked, but result stands
Brazilian Vanderlei de Lima was tonight involved in the first high-profile security breach of the Olympic Games as a spectator watching the men’s marathon accosted the long-time race leader.
With three and a half miles of the race remaining, De Lima was stunned to be jostled into the crowd by the spectator, dressed in costume, who was allowed to run from one side of the wide road to the other.
Although there are road-side barriers along the course, the spectator was not stopped by security and briefly chaos ensued.
De Lima held a convincing lead at the time, although he was being sucked in by a pack of athletes who were rapidly making up ground.
The incident delayed De Lima by several seconds, and he was then passed by two athletes.
Responding to the intruder attack on De Lima, the IOC released a statement which read:
“The IOC is saddened by the incident.
“The executive board has met. However, we must await the decision of the IAAF jury which is meeting now.
“At that time, once they have taken their decision, we will give our position.
“All this will be in time for the medal ceremony.”
De Lima was the focus of attention once he crossed the finish line, and he was quick to state that the incident had ruined his plans.
“I trained a lot for this and I’m very happy to win this bronze medal. If that spectator didn’t jump in front of me in the middle of the race, who knows what would have happened. Maybe I would have won. It disturbed me a lot,” he said.
“For me it was very difficult because I didn’t know what he had with him. I was very afraid.
“I lost my rhythm and I had to get back to the rhythm on the street and it was very difficult. I could have done better.”
IAAF race jury in men’s marathon went on to rule that the race result stands.
Men’s marathon Final result:
1 Stefano Baldini (Ita) 2h10:55
2 Mebrahtom Keflezighi (USA) 2h11:29
3 Vanderlei de Lima (Bra) 2h12:11
4 Jon Brown (Gbr) 2h12:26
5 Shigeru Aburaya (Jpn) 2h13:11
6 Toshinari Suwa (Jpn) 2h13:24
7 Erick Wainaina (Ken) 2h13:30
8 Alberto Chaica (Por) 2h14:17
9 Alberico di Cecco (Ita) 2h14:34
10 Paul Tergat (Ken) 2h14:45
11 Jaouad Gharib (Mor) 2h15:12
12 Alan Culpepper (USA) 2h15:26
13 Leonid Shvetsov (Rus) 2h15:28
14 Bong Ju Lee (Kor) 2h15:33
15 Ambesse Tolosa (Eth) 2h15:39
16 Gert Thys (Rsa) 2h16:08
17 Young Joon Ji (Kor) 2h16:14
18 Antoni Pena (Spa) 2h16:38
19 Georgiy Andreyev (Rus) 2h16:55
20 Haile Satayin (Isr) 2h17:25
21 Jonathan Wyatt (Nzl) 2h17:45
22 Janne Holmen (Fin) 2h17:50
23 Dan Robinson (Gbr) 2h17:53
24 Nikolaos Polias (Gre) 2h17:56
25 Ndabili Bashingili (Bot) 2h18:09
26 Pavel Loskutov (Est) 2h18:09
27 Jose Rios (Spa) 2h18:40
28 Lee Troop (Aus) 2h18:46
29 Michael Buchleitner (Aut) 2h19:19
30 Anuradha Cooray (Sri) 2h19:24
31 Zhuhong Li (Chn) 2h19:26
32 Joachim Nshimirimana (Bdi) 2h19:31
33 Dale Warrender (Nzl) 2h19:42
34 Waldemar Glinka (Pol) 2h19:43
35 Myong Chol Jong (PRK) 2h19:47
36 El Hassan Lahssini (Fra) 2h19:50
37 Michal Bartoszak (Pol) 2h20:20
38 Ahmed Jumaa Jaber (Qat) 2h20:27
39 Ali Mabrouk El Zaidi (Lba) 2h20:31
40 Samson Ramadhani (Tan) 2h20:38
41 Myong Seun Lee (Kor) 2h21:01
42 Tomoaki Kunichika (Jpn) 2h21:13
43 Jose Alirio Carrasco (Col) 2h21:14
44 Ernest Ndjissipou (CAR) 2h21:23
45 Nicholas Harrison (Aus) 2h21:42
46 Tereje Wodajo (Eth) 2h21:53
47 Aguelmis Rojas (Cub) 2h21:59
48 Abel Chimukoko (Zim) 2h22:09
49 Said Belhout (Alg) 2h22:32
50 Matthew O Dowd (Gbr) 2h22:37
51 Juan Carlos Cardona (Col) 2h22:49
52 Daniele Caimmi (Ita) 2h23:07
53 Joao N Tyamba (Ang) 2h23:26
54 Roman Kejzar (Slv) 2h23:34
55 Procopio Franco (Mex) 2h23:34
56 Wen Chien Wu (Tai) 2h23:54
57 Antoni Bernado (And) 2h23:55
58 Julio Rey (Spa) 2h24:54
59 Asaf Bimro (Isr) 2h25:20
60 Sisay Bezabeh (Aus) 2h25:26
61 Silvio Guerra (Ecu) 2h25:29
62 Mathias Ntawulikura (Rwa) 2h26:05
63 Robert Stefko (Cze) 2h27:12
64 Jose Amado Garcia (Gua) 2h27:13
65 Daniel Browne (USA) 2h27:17
66 Gang Han (Chn) 2h27:31
67 Eduardo Buenavista (Phi) 2h28:18
68 Driss El Himer (Fra) 2h29:07
69 Andres Espinosa (Mex) 2h29:43
70 Mpesela Ntlot Soeu (Les) 2h30:19
71 Franklin Tenorio (Ecu) 2h31:12
72 Jose Ernani Palalia (Mex) 2h31:41
73 Dmitriy Burmakin (Rus) 2h31:51
74 Mindaugas Pukstas (Lit) 2h33:02
75 Bat-Ochir Ser-Od (Mgl) 2h33:24
76 Ronghua Zhu (Chn) 2h34:02
77 Alfredo Arevalo (Gua) 2h34:02
78 Antonio Carlos Zeferino (Cpv) 2h36:22
79 Valery Pisarev (Kir) 2h40:10
80 Zepherinus Joseph (Lca) 2h44:19
81 Marcel Matanin (Svk) 2h50:26
Did not finish:
Hendrick Ramaala (Rsa), Amnaay Zebedayo Bayo (Tan), Hailu Negussie (Eth), Viktor Rothlin (Swi), Al Mustafa Riyadh (Brn), Romulo Silva (Bra), Ian Syster (Rsa), Zsolt Bacskai (Hun), Azat Rakipov (Blr), Dmytro Baranovskyy (Ukr), Rachid Ghanmouni (Mor), Rachid Ziar (Alg), Mustapha Bennacer (Alg), Andre Luiz Ramos (Bra), Luis Fonseca (Ven), Khalid El Boumlili (Mor), John Nada Saya (Tan), Gil da Cruz Trindade (Tls), Jussi Utriainen (Fin), Jean Paul Gahimbare (Bdi).
Did not start:
Luc Krotwaar (Ned)
