Les Jones

News > Assault on Lima at Olympic Marathon

What the hell? We're watching live coverage of the Olympic marathon and some idiot just ran out on the course and pushed race leader Lima to the side. People in the crowd pulled him off and Lima continued, though he has to be shaken. Unbelievable. I hope the cops got the guy. Lima has had a huge lead, and I hope this doesn't stop him from winning.

A LITTLE LATER: Nuts. Lima came in third. The Italian team took the Gold and the U.S. team the Silver. This is terrible. Lima was robbed, and the guys who finished ahead of him know that their medals are forever tainted with footnotes.

LATER LATER: MSNBC has more (and I've added the picture from their report):

The intruder had a piece of paper attached to his back bearing the message: "The Grand Prix Priest Israel Fulfillment of Prophecy Says the Bible."

Police identified him as Cornelius Horan, a defrocked Irish priest. In July 2003, Horan, in a costume similar to the one he wore Sunday, ran onto the track at the British Grand Prix in the middle of the race and stayed there for more than 20 seconds, forcing racers to swerve around him. He was carrying a sign that said, "read the Bible — the Bible is always right."

Lima's team filed an appeal. There's no way to call a do-over on a 26 mile marathon or to really make this sort of thing right, but this may be the best we can hope for:

"I think the Olympic spirit prevailed and I prevailed. I was able to show that determination wins races," de Lima said after receiving his bronze. "Never mind the result of the appeal," he said. "I’m very happy to have won this medal."

De Lima will be presented with a Pierre de Coubertin Medal, named after the founder of the modern Olympics in recognition of his "exceptional demonstration of fair play and Olympic values," the IOC said.