The Brazilian runner who was grabbed by a spectator while leading the men's marathon at the Athens Olympics has lost his bid to be awarded a duplicate gold medal.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected Vanderlei de Lima's appeal, saying it couldn't change field-of-play decisions unless there was evidence of any "bad faith or arbitrariness."

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said

The CAS panel regretted the unfortunate circumstances of this case and expressed its sympathy towards the athlete. However, the CAS had no power to remedy his legitimate frustration./

A fading De Lima was leading the race when an Irish spectator jumped out of the crowd, grabbed him and pushed him off the course with about 3km to go.

De Lima, who was stopped for about 15 seconds, got back into the race but finished third behind winner Stefano Baldini of Italy and American Meb Keflezighi.

The Brazilian Olympic Committee filed a protest immediately after the race, but the International Association of Athletics Federations upheld the results.

In September 2004, de Lima and the Brazilian committee filed an appeal to CAS seeking a duplicate gold medal to "remedy the damages he suffered."

Although De Lima criticized the security measures at the race in his appeal, CAS said he did not show that the decision by the IAAF to uphold the results was "tainted by bad faith or arbitrariness."