Polyvios Kossivas
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Polyvios Kossivas, in Greek Πολύβιος Κόσσυβας (Athens, 1950) is a Greek salesman who became famous when he helped the Brazilian runner Vanderlei de Lima in the Athens 2004 marathon.
A salesman now, Kossivas is a former amateur basketball player and referee who was watching the Olympic marathon on television at his home in Athens. When he realized that the runners would be passing close to his home, he decided to go see the front runners. As he was standing there, he watched as Cornelius Horan, the Irish former priest, grabbed the Brazilian runner, who was then leading the race with a 30 second advantage over the second place, and pushed him against the baffled crowd.
Kossivas reacted immediately, jumping over the security ropes and throwing himself on Lima's attacker. He subdued Horan and helped Lima up and back in the race. His action was particularly noticed because he was the only person to actually help Lima, since the three Greek security agents (one of them a police officer) were taken by surprise and did not make it to the place where Lima and Horan had landed until Kossivas had already freed Lima and subdued Horan.
As he described it later, Kossivas said that in that moment he thought that there were three ways to help Vanderlei out: "the right way, the wrong way, and my way". He then threw Horan on the ground, pulled Lima up and pushed him towards the lane saying "go!" (in English). He then returned immediately to his house, to watch the end of the race, where he found his wife and daughter crying, and proud that they had seen him on television, helping "the attacked athlete." Kossivas commented that his idea when he went to watch the race was also to cheer on Vanderlei de Lima, since "he had been leading for quite some time and everything indicated that he would win the marathon." Kossivas calculates that Lima must have lost at least 21 seconds fighting off Horan, in addition to the physical stress, as Kossivas said, "it was visible that his heart was pounding, completely discombobulated by what had happened."
In acknowledgement of his assistance to Lima, the Brazilian Olympic Committee invited Kossivas to come to Brazil (with all expenses paid by the BOC) and participate as guest of honour in the "Brazilian Olympic Prize", a yearly award ceremony held by the BOC in Rio de Janeiro. The invitation was extended to Kossivas's wife, Julia (in Greek: Ιουλία), and daughter, Smaragda (in Greek: Σμαράγδα). Mr. Kossivas would also bring along his neighbor and friend, George Diamantopoulos (in Greek: Γιώργος Διαμαντόπουλος).
Upon arriving in Rio de Janeiro on December 3, 2004, Kossivas was hailed as a hero by the Brazilian people, who dubbed him "the Greek angel." Treated as a celebrity, Kossivas attended a football match also as guest of honour (On December 5, a match valid for the Brazilian Championship: Flamengo vs. Coritiba, in the Maracanã stadium – Kossivas visited the locker rooms, entered the field through the players's entrance, was complimented by the athletes and was cheered by a crowd of approximately 30 thousand, who chanted something like: "hail the Greek angel!"; he was also allowed to collect a sample of the field grass to take home as a souvenir) and was interviewed and photographed non-stop for the entire duration of his visit. Kossivas declared in his first press conference that he would provide the BOC with two new pieces of information on the incident that would strengthen Vanderlei de Lima's claim to a gold medal from the IOC.
He participated in the Brazilian Olympic Prize ceremony, which was the first time he and Vanderlei de Lima met since the incident in Athens. He was called to the stage immediately after Lima had been given his trophy as Brazilian athlete of the year and the two received a three-minute standing ovation from the audience, made up of the créme-de-la-créme of the Brazilian sporting community. After their emotional reunion, Lima, on behalf of the BOC, presented Kossivas with a special award, a jade trophy on a granite pedestal, representing gratitude and acknowledgement.
Following the ceremony, on an interview, Kossivas entertained the small audience of reporters when he offered to go to Beijing 2008 and protect Vanderlei de Lima from any harm that might come his way. He also presented Vanderlei de Lima with a T-shirt in which the Olympic Rings and the Brazilian and Greek flags could be seen, as well as writing in Greek saying: "May you fight, but fight in the right manner." He also gave Lima a fountain pen and a commemorative coin of the Athens Olympic Games, the latter also distributed to other members of the BOC.
Mr. Kossivas was hoping that the repercussions of his visit to Brazil will attract some attention in his native Greece, since his pivotal participation in the history of that marathon went virtually unnoticed back home.
