A former Irish priest pushed Brazil's Vanderlei de Lima off the road when he was leading the Olympic marathon today.
The man was arrested and taken to a police station. A Greek government spokesman said he was a former Irish priest, Cornelius Horan, who interrupted the British Formula One Grand Prix last year by running on to the Silverstone track.
"The man says he is Irish, he is also drunk. He had been to a taverna earlier," a police source told the Reuters news agency.
Horan was wearing what appeared to be a kilt and beret and on a white shirt he had pinned the words "The Grand Prix Priest. Israel Fulfillment of Prophecy Says The Bible. The Second Coming is Near." He also had a Star of David attached to his kilt.
After being pushed into the crowd, a grimacing De Lima got away from Horan and rejoined the race, holding his leg, with around 15 minutes to run.
He soon lost the lead to Italian Stefano Baldini. Baldini won the race and De Lima took bronze. Most observers agreed, though, that De Lima, who was visibly tiring at the time of the attack, would have finished in third place even without the interruption.
However, the athlete himself wasn't so sure "If that spectator didn't jump in front of me in the middle of the race, who knows what would have happened? Maybe I would have won. It disturbed me a lot," De Lima told reporters.
Police officials said Horan had arrived early on Sunday on a British Airways flight.
He told police that he grabbed De Lima to prepare for the second coming of Christ. "He seems to be suffering from psychological problems," a police official said.
56-year-old Horan ran on to the main Hangar Straight during the British Grand Prix as cars approached at speeds in excess of 240kph. He was sentenced to two months imprisonment for aggravated trespass.
Today's incident was another embarrassment for the organisers of the Athens Games, who had been forced to review their 1.5 billion euro security plan in the first week of competition after a spectator jumped into the pool at a diving event.
The International Olympic Committee announced it was awarding De Lima with the Pierre de Coubertin medal for his achievement in continuing in the race.
Filed by James Boylan
