Vanderlei de Lima, the Brazilian runner who was famously attacked by a spectator while leading the marathon at the 2004 Olympics, is set to miss the Beijing Games because of injury, his trainer said on Wednesday.
De Lima, who went on to win the bronze medal in Athens, has been forced to pull out of Sunday's Prague marathon, his last chance to qualify, because of a nagging injury in the back of his left thigh.
"Although he has partly recovered, he's not in condition to run a high performance race," Ricardo D'Angelo told Brazilian media.
"Vanderlei is very upset, because he had a bronze medal to defend. A piece of news like this makes an athlete sad but we're going to look ahead."
De Lima, 38, became an instant celebrity in Brazil after the incident in 2004. The rank outsider was leading with around 6km to run when former Irish priest Cornelius Horan ran across the course and bundled him into the crowd.
De Lima managed to struggle free after spectator Polyvios Kossivas, who also became a celebrity in Brazil, intervened.
Despite losing around 20 seconds, De Lima managed to go on and win a bronze medal behind Italian Stefano Baldini, doing his now famous aeroplane celebration down the finishing straight and winning a standing ovation in one of the most moving moments of the Games.
Horan was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence.
De Lima has run fast enough to qualify but Brazil has only three places in the marathon, already taken by Marilson Gomes, Jose Teles and Franck Caldeira.
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily May 9, 2008)