Baldini wins dramatic marathon

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An unidentified man grabs Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil during the men's marathon. (Koji Sasahara, AP)

Athens - Stefano Baldini of Italy won a dramatic men's marathon at the Olympic Games on Sunday after long-time race leader Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil was attacked by a spectator in the latter stages of the race.

Baldini crossed the line in 2:10:55, Mebrahtom Keflezighi of the United States took the silver medal and De Lima recovered and hung on to win the bronze medal.

A man dressed in a traditional Greek costume bolted from the crowd and grabbed De Lima 5km from the finish, pushing him to the curb.

After being pushed into the crowd, De Lima got away from the protestor and rejoined the race, holding his leg, with about 15 minutes to run.

However, he soon lost the lead to Baldini.

The attacker was arrested and taken to a police station.

There are no details of his name or nationality.

Of the South Africans, Gert Thys fared best, crossing the finishing line in 16th position in 2:16:08