Vanderlei de Lima

Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima (born August 11, 1969 in Cruzeiro do Oeste, Paraná) is a marathon athlete from Brazil. De Lima received international renown after a spectator, a defrocked Irish priest, attacked him in the Marathon race at the 2004 Summer Olympics, when he was leading the race at 35 km. He was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for Sportsmanship after the race, in which he had still managed to win the bronze medal.

At the age of eight, Vanderlei began working with his father as a peasant in farms near his hometown. According to Vanderlei, who never tries to hide his humble origin, the money they made was barely enough to buy rice and beans. He repeatedly says that, by struggling to overcome the hardships of his life, he was preparing to be a good marathon athlete.

Incident at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece

On August 29, 2004 at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, De Lima was attempting to become the first Brazilian to win an Olympic gold medal at the men's marathon event. Near the 35 km (21.75 miles) mark with about 7 kilometers (4.35 miles) to finish, and holding a lead of approximately 90 seconds,Fact|date=August 2008 de Lima was pushed into the crowd by a spectator named Cornelius Horan, a defrocked Irish priest. Incidentally, Horan had previously disrupted the 2003 Formula One British Grand Prix by running onto the Silverstone track. Greek spectator Polyvios Kossivas subdued Horan and helped Vanderlei up and back to the lane.De Lima lost about 20 seconds in the incident, and was passed by Stefano Baldini (Italy) and Mebrahtom Keflezighi (United States) later at the 38 km (23.6 miles) mark. He finished third with a time of 2:12.11, winning the bronze medal and received a hero's welcome.

The Brazilian Track Federation launched an appeal on behalf of de Lima with its president Roberto Gesta de Melo claiming that "someone took him out of the race and we are asking for a gold medal for our athlete... solutions like that have been done in the past for other events." The appeal was rejected.

At the closing of the event, the International Olympic Committee awarded de Lima the Pierre de Coubertin medal for the spirit of sportsmanship exhibited by the athlete; which included a victory dance on the last seconds of the race. The medal was officially presented to Vanderlei de Lima on December 7, in Rio de Janeiro, during a formal ceremony organized on a yearly basis by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) and known as "The Brazilian Olympic Prize." Vanderlei was also named "Brazilian athlete of the year" (2004), receiving the trophy presented by the COB at the same time as the Pierre de Coubertin medal. Lima's victory as athlete of the year was notable because for the first time since the establishment of the prize in 1995 the winner was chosen by online popular vote rather than an exclusive election by registered COB members.

On July 1, 2005, Brazilian beach volleyball player Emanuel Rego, who won the gold medal at the 2004 Olympic Games, gave his gold medal to Vanderlei on television. Deeply touched, Vanderlei returned it. "I can't accept Emanuel's medal. I'm happy with mine, it's bronze but means gold", said Vanderlei.

ources

# Reuters. [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sports/olympics/olympicstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3587883 De Lima to get sportsmanship medal following marathon attack] . Athens, Greece: "Reuters". August 30, 2004.

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