Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima (born August 11, 1969), better known plainly as Vanderlei de Lima, is an athlete from Brazil. His event is the marathon, for which he won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics. De Lima received international renown when he was awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal after a spectator attacked him in the men's marathon event at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Biography

Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima was born in the city of Cruzeiro do Oeste , state of Paraná, south of Brazil; his height is 1.68m (5'6" feet) and his weight is 54 kg (119 pounds).

At the age of eight, Vanderlei began working with his father, José Cordeiro de Lima , as peasants in farms near his hometown; their function is known in Brazil as "bóia-fria", which means "cold meal", in reference to the fact that they must bring their own food with them, which, by lack of means to be warmed, must be eaten cold. According to Vanderlei, who never tries to hide his humble origin, the money they made was barely enough to buy rice and beans (the basics of Brazilian food); he repeatedly says that, by struggling to overcome the hardships of his life, he was preparing to be a good marathon athlete.

De Lima is an experienced marathon runner who has won important events, such as the marathon in the 2003 Pan American Games , the Hamburg Marathon and the São Paulo Marathon . He finished 41st place in the men's marathon event at the 1996 Summer Olympics , and didn´t complete the event in Sydney, four years later.

Incident at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece

In 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 in the men's marathon race. Unfortunately, near the 35 km (21.75 mile) mark with less than 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) to finish, a spectator pushed de Lima into the crowds. At the moment, de Lima held an approximately 48 seconds lead and lost about 15-20 seconds of his running time because of the interruption. He was passed by Italian and American runners at the 38 km (23.6 mile) mark. De Lima finished third in the event with a time of 2h 12m, winning the bronze medal.

The spectator turned out to be Cornelius Horan, a religious fanatic who was drunk at the time, and who is known to disrupt sporting events. Vanderlei was helped by a Greek citizen, Polyvios Kossivas, who was watching the race. Kossivas subdued Horan and helped Vanderlei up and back to the lane.

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 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." However, the appeal was rejected.

At the closing of the event, the International Olympic Committee awarded de Lima with 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. Said medal was officially presented to Vanderlei de Lima on December 7, in Rio de Janeiro, during a formal ceremony organized on an yearly basis by the Brazilian Olympic Committee and known as "The Brazilian Olympic Prize". As was to be expected, Vanderlei won the nation wide poll and was named "Brazilian athlete of the year" (2004), receiving the trophy presented by the BOC at the same time as the Pierre de Coubertin medal. Lima's victory as athlete of the year had the particularity that, for the first time since the establishment of the prize, nine years ago, the winner was chosen by the popular vote, through the internet, as opposed to the exclusive election in which only registered members of the BOC could vote.

References

1. CBC Sports Online staff. Marathon marred by attack on race leader. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. August 29, 2004.
2. Reuters. De Lima to get sportsmanship medal following marathon attack. Athens, Greece: Reuters. August 30, 2004.