Born in Viseu, Portugal, Carlos Lopes was a quite average long distance runner, until he made an astonishing breakthrough in 1976, aged 29.
He started 1976 season with a win at the World Cross-Country Championships at Chepstow. At the 1976 Summer Olympics, Lopes set the pace from 4 km mark and the only one to follow him was defending Olympic champion Lasse Virén. Virén passed Lopes with a lap to go to win the gold medal, with Lopes easily winning the silver medal.
After the superb 1976 season Lopes slipped back into the same relative obscurity in which he had been before 1976. Lopes attempted his first marathon at the end of 1982, but he did not finish it. But in his next marathon in the next year he finished a close second to Rob de Castella from Australia with a time of 2:08.39. Lopes decided to run a 10 000 m at the first World Championships, which he finished dissapointing sixth. After that he decided to concentrate to marathon.
The Olympic marathon at Los Angeles was run in very hot and humid conditions, and as the favourites gradually fell away, it was the 37 year old Lopes who led the field into the stadium to win the gold medal. In the last major competitive race of his career, the 1985 Rotterdam marathon, Lopes took almost a minute off the world's best marathon time, setting a new standard of 2:07:12.
Carlos did not better 28 minutes for 10000m again until 1981, but then in 1982, he reduced his best time to 27min 24.39sec at the Bislett Games in Oslo, narrowly missing the world record.
Lopes attempted his first marathon later that year in New York, in which he did not finish, but in Rotterdam the following April, he finished a close second to Rob De Castella (Australia) with a time of 2hr 08min 39sec.
At the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki, Lopes chose the 10000m rather than the marathon, but did not have a happy race, allowing the pace to dawdle, and he was outkicked by the sprinters in the last lap, finishing a disappointing 6th.
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