Complex Numbers

Imma Let You Finish, But...

The current round of "Journalistic Intentions"  [18+] features prompts relating to the Olympics. This is a subject I know almost nothing about, so I get to stretch my superpower of being able to write about any topic.

To make it even more potentially difficult for myself, I'll be picking the prompts (there will be eight of them, including this one) at random from the list.

Vanderlei de Lima

I've long thought of the Olympics as the exclusive province of young people. Well, in the sports, anyway; I imagine the IOC as a bunch of septuagenarians proclaiming this and that from on high (I don't know who actually composes that body).

And by "young," I generally mean "teens and early twenties." Then you retire, do commercials, and eventually get involved with a family who's famous for being famous. Hell if I know; it's so hard to Keep Up these days.

But, according to this guy's Wiki page,   dude was 35 when he ran in the 2004 games.

For context, I'm only three years older than him. For more context, Springsteen was 35 when he released Born in the USA (but much younger when he released Born to Run, which might have been more appropriate for Lima).

From that Wiki page:

Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima (born 4 July 1969) is a Brazilian retired long-distance runner.

Now, see, I'd have guessed Peruvian from the name. Shows how much I know. (And no, I've never even heard his name before, to the best of my recollection.)

While leading the marathon after 35 km at the 2004 Summer Olympics, he was attacked on the course by Irish former priest Cornelius "Neil" Horan.

There's gotta be a story there. Fortunately, the article later expands upon it:

Soon after the 35 km (22 mi) mark, holding a lead of around 25 seconds, Lima was halted and grappled with by spectator Neil Horan, an Irish priest who was later defrocked.

The implication is that Horan was actively serving as a priest at the time, so saying he was attacked by a "former priest" up there is a bit misleading.

What Godly or worldly reason could Horan have had for being a human stumbling-block?

Horan said "I wasn’t doing it as a prank, I was doing it to spread the gospel and to prepare people for the second coming.”

Religious "logic," folks. I know if I wanted to convince someone my invisible sky-wizard was about to press the big red reset button, I couldn't think of a more appropriate way to spread the message than to fuck up someone's marathon run.

2004 was before social media infected the internet, but the internet itself was absolutely a thing then. I know this because that's the year I joined WDC, not long after the Olympics.

And here we are, 20 years later, and despite every effort and fervent prayers, the second ain't come yet.

In any case, there's not much else at the Wiki link besides Lima's other accomplishments in putting one foot in front of the other faster than everybody else. He did win sportsmanship awards, though, so I figure that counts for something regarding his character.

Which is more than I can say for his attacker.