Italian Stefano Baldini won the Olympic men’s marathon yesterday after an intruder dashed on to the course late in the race and bundled the then leader Vanderlei de Lima into the crowd.
De Lima, who surged to the front before the halfway stage of the 42.195 kms race from Marathon to the Panathinaiko stadium, managed to extricate himself from the spectators but was clearly shaken by the incident.
The man, dressed in a kilt and green beret, was arrested and taken away by police who said he was drunk.
“I lost the gold medal at that moment,” de Lima said. “I was afraid, I did not know if the man who attacked was armed.
“If hadn’t jumped out in front of me during the race, who knows what would have happened? I lost my rhythm and I had to get back to the rhythm on the street and it was very difficult.”
The twice Pan American champion had been tiring anyway at the stage and Baldini, a former European champion and twice world bronze medalist, slipped into the lead at 40 kms and strode away to a comfortable win in two hours 10 minutes 55 seconds.
American Meb Keflezighi finished second in 2:11:29 with de Lima, who received a standing ovation from the spectators at the venue of the 1896 Athens Games, taking the bronze. The race began in 30 degrees, cooler than the temperatures for last Sunday’s women’s race but still hot enough for the toughest race on the Olympic athletics program.
The field remained bunched until 16 kms, when South African Hendrik Ramaala surged to the lead. Ramaala was overtaken in turn by de Lima who led as the field passed the halfway mark in 67 minutes 33 seconds.
At the 30 kms mark, Lima had extended his lead to 46 seconds, completing the previous five kms in 15:30, the fastest split of the race. But his margin steadily dwindled as the chasing group, headed by Baldini, drew closer and the clash with the interloper at 37 kms threw him off his stride.
“It was an unbelievable sensation because Panathinaiko is the story of the marathon, so it is a fantastic feeling,” Baldini said. “It is unbelievable for me.
“Today I was sure because I am in top condition. I was only afraid in the first part because we too slow.
“The way I ran today made it impossible for anybody to beat me.”
The intruder was later identified by police as Irish priest Cornelius Horan. Horan was sentenced to two months imprisonment after walking on to the track at the British Formula One Grand Prix last year.
The spectator incident came shortly after International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge poured praise on the organizers, saying among other things that “security has been flawless”.
Rogge later presented Lima with the Pierre de Coubertin Medal in recognition of his “exceptional demonstration of fair play and Olympic values”. Lima received the medal ahead of a victory ceremony integrated into the Games closing.
At the Munich Olympics in 1972 a hoaxer stole on to the track a couple of minutes before the lead runner reached the stadium and ran a full lap, pretending to be a competitor, before being dragged away by security guards.
Keflezighi, who immigrated to the United States from Eritrea, is the first American to get a marathon medal since Frank Shorter won the 1972 Munich race. His teammate Deena Kastor won bronze in last Sunday’s women’s race.
“U.S.A. running is back,” he said. “I’ve been training my butt off.”
He said he had been inspired by Kastor’s performance. “I tried to do the best I could today with god-given talent.
