Italian Edges American in Marathon

ATHENS, Greece – Three miles from the finish, the marathon leader was grabbed by a defrocked priest wearing a red kilt, green beret, and matching knee-high socks. An American won a medal – something that hadn’t happened in 28 years.Definitely a bizarre way to end the Olympics. Panathinaiko Stadium hasn’t hosted anything this weird since a pair of Greek princes ran alongside Spiridon Louis to the finish line 108 years ago.Italy’s Stefano Baldini surged ahead with two miles to go and American Meb Keflezighi finished a surprising second in a race disrupted by a costumed intruder from Ireland.With three miles left, Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil was clinging to a shrinking lead when he was shoved into the curbside throng by the assailant. De Lima was able to get back into the race, but he lost several more seconds and ended up with the bronze.De Lima led by as much as 46 seconds before Baldini, Keflezighi, and Paul Tergat began to narrow the gap. As de Lima led the runners through the streets of Athens to the cheers of flag-waving onlookers, the intruder struck. He came from de Lima’s left and pushed him all the way into the crowd. De Lima pushed himself free and kept running, but he was passed a mile later.Police quickly tackled and arrested the intruder, identified as Cornelius Horan, who had a piece of paper attached to his back bearing the message: “The Grand Prix Priest Israel Fulfillment of Prophecy Says the Bible.”The 29-year-old Keflezighi, who emigrated from the African nation of Eritrea at age 10, is the first American to medal in the men’s marathon since Frank Shorter’s silver in 1976. Deena Kastor won the bronze in the women’s marathon a week ago, marking the first time the United States had won two medals in the 26.2-mile race at the same Olympics.“USA running is back,” Keflezighi said. “Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Comingin I was not a favorite, I’m just very happy to win a silver.”De Lima drew big cheers from the crowd at the finish line in the beautiful, horseshoe-shaped stadium that was the site of the first modern Olympics 108 years ago. He smiled broadly, spread his arms like wings and weaved from side to side as he crossed the line. Later, he said the intruder cost him a shot at the gold.“When I saw the man who was jumping on me I was scared, because I didn’t know what could happen to me, whether he was armed with a knife, a revolver or something and whether he was going to kill me,” de Lima said.“If you stop in a marathon, you struggle the next three or four kilometers. It’s hard to get your rhythm back,” he said. “I don’t know if I would have won, but things would have been different.”A protest filed by the Brazilian track federation asking that de Lima be given a duplicate gold was denied by the International Association of Athletics Federations. Brazil said it would appeal that decision to the independent Court of Arbitration for Sport, whose decision would be final.Baldini finished in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 54 seconds. Keflezighi, the American record holder at 10,000 meters, ran a personal-best 2:11.29.

Italian Edges American in Marathon

Italian Edges American in Marathon

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