Vanderlei de Lima
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| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  Brazil
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| Men's athletics | ||
| Olympic Games | ||
 |
2004 Athens | Marathon |
 |
Pierre de Coubertin medal | 2004 |
| Pan American Games | ||
 |
1999 Winnipeg | Marathon |
|
2003 Santo Domingo | Marathon |
Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima (born 11 August 1969 in Cruzeiro do Oeste, Paraná, Brazil) is a former long-distance runner who specialised in marathons. He received international renown after a spectator, a former Irish priest Cornelius "Neil" Horan, attacked him at the 2004 Summer Olympics marathon while he was leading the race at 35 km. Following the incident he fell back from first to third place, winning the bronze medal. He was later awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship for that race. Neil Horan, the priest who attacked de Lima, was defrocked by the Catholic Church the following year in January 2005.
The other highlights of his career were wins at the Tokyo International Marathon and Hamburg Marathon, becoming the regional cross country champion in 1995, and winning the marathon at the Pan American Games twice consecutively in 1999 and 2003.
He lit the Olympic cauldron and carried the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics.
He started out as a cross country runner, representing Brazil at the 1989 and 1992 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. It was at regional level that he won his first medals, scoring a bronze at the 1993 South American Cross Country Championships before going on to win the competition in 1995.
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