OLYMPICS MARATHON: BRAZILIAN DONE AFTER HIT-AND-RUN LEADER PUSHED BY INTRUDER; UCLA PRODUCT TAKES SILVER.

Byline: Paul Oberjuerge Staff Writer

ATHENS, Greece - As if an American man taking a silver in the marathon wasn't stunning enough.

In the most bizarre incident of the now-completed Athens Olympics, a defrocked Irish priest wearing a kilt, beret and knee-high socks pushed marathon leader Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil off the course about 3 miles from the finish line Sunday.

De Lima was forced into fans standing along the street and lost several seconds before security personnel intervened and he resumed running.

Within minutes, eventual winner Stefano Baldini of Italy and silver medalist Meb Keflezighi of the United States overtook de Lima, wiping out the last of what had been a 40-second lead.

Baldini finished in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 55 seconds. Keflezighi was 34 seconds behind. His marathon medal was the first by an American man in the Olympics since 1976.

De Lima finished third but said he would have won the race had he not been attacked by the intruder.

``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 through an interpreter at Panathinaiko Stadium, where the race concluded. ``That's what cost me the gold medal.''

Brazil lodged a protest and suggested de Lima be awarded a second gold medal, but the International Olympics Committee rejected the request.

``Of course, two gold medals would be welcome,'' de Lima said in a news conference at Olympic Stadium. ``I'd be very happy. It is very difficult to run a marathon race. It is difficult once you lose your rhythm to find it again. I really found it very difficult to find my rhythm again after this incident.''

The IOC awarded de Lima the Pierre de Coubertin medal ``in recognition of his ... Olympic values during the marathon race.''

The attacker was identified by local authorities as Cornelius Horan. They said he arrived in Athens from London early Sunday morning.

He is believed to be the same man who obstructed the 2003 British Grand Prix by running onto the track as Formula One cars whizzed past him.

On Sunday, he had a piece of paper attached to his back with the message, ``The Grand Prix Priest Israel Fulfillment of Prophecy Says the Bible.''

``He simply hurled himself right at me, right in the middle of the street and I was pushed off the course onto the sidewalk,'' de Lima said. ``And then security was able to free me and I was able to continue running.

``I think that the Olympic spirit prevailed here, my determination prevailed, and with my sense of Olympism I was able to show that determination wins races.''

De Lima said he did not blame Greek security for allowing the intruder onto the 26.2-mile course.

Baldini and Keflezighi said they did not see the Lima incident, and neither seemed uneasy that their medals were somehow tainted.

Baldini said: ``I believe I would have won anyway. I would have caught him 1 kilometer later, but I would have caught him. When the incident happened, I was running at a rhythm 20 seconds faster than he was. So no problem with the result for me.''

Keflezighi, 29, emigrated to United States from war-torn and impoverished Eritrea when he was 10. He attended UCLA and was a standout distance runner.

He qualified for the 10,000 meters here but skipped the race to concentrate on the more glamorous marathon, which followed approximately the same course as the runner Pheidippides did in 490 B.C., while bringing news to Athens of victory over the invading Persians in the Battle of Marathon.

``I'm just delighted to get a silver,'' he said. ``I've been working for 10 years, and it finally paid off. I was delighted to be on the medal stand. That was my goal the whole year.''

Paul Oberjuerge, [phone]

paul.oberjuerge(at)sbsun.com

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Brazil's Vanderlei de Lima is pushed by Cornelius Horan, a defrocked Irish priest, with about 3 miles to go in the marathon. Lima was leading at the time of the incident, but he dropped to third.

Koji Sasahara/Associated Press

(2) American Meb Keflezighi finishes second as Italy's Stefano Baldini rests after finishing first in the Marathon.

Diether Endlicher/Associated Press