The incident which saw Vanderlei da Lima attacked by a spectator when he was leading the men's marathon at the Athens Olympics may yet turn out to be good news for the Brazilian athlete.
Despite missing out on the gold medal and finishing in third position, the episode has highlighted Da Lima and given him plenty of media attention and sponsorship offers, probably more than he would have got had he been Olympic champion.
"Have you seen me on every TV show? I'm the most famous guy in the planet!," Da Lima joked on his arrival at Sao Paulo airport, where more than 50 journalists and photographers - including three TV crews from Japan - were waiting for him.
"I have no bad feeling against the attacker. I'm satisfied with the bronze medal because my only target was being among the top three. No matter if it was gold, silver or bronze, I just wanted a medal."
