El Guerrouj wins historic double over Bekele

Hicham El Guerrouj completed the first Olympic 1,500-5,000 double since Finn Paavo Nurmi 80 years ago on the penultimate day of the Athens Games yesterday.

El Guerrouj, who finally won the Olympic 1,500 gold at the third time of asking last Tuesday, outsprinted Ethiopia's 10,000 metres champion Kenenisa Bekele in the straight after a slow but fascinating tactical battle.

The race was the highlight of a packed programme on the final day of action at the Olympic stadium, with eight finals crammed into 2-1/2 hours of action.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, who beat both men to the line at last year's Paris world championship, vied with Bekele for the lead over the closing laps.

Bekele struck on the bend of the final lap and a frenzied sprint finish developed, won triumphantly by El Guerrouj.

"This is a historic victory that I dedicate to the Moroccan people, to the Arab world and to the Muslim world," he said.

Briton Kelly Holmes secured an equally impressive double by adding the 1,500 to the 800 she won on Monday.

Holmes ran another perfectly judged race, staying out of trouble at the back of the field in the first lap, moving up in the second and being poised near the leading group at the bell.

She survived a push on the final lap to move up steadily on the outside, then swerved in the straight to block her opponents.

Well before the line Holmes realised she had won, flashing a smile of pure delight as she crossed the line in three minutes 57.90 seconds.

The magnitude of her achievement can be judged by the rarity of such a demanding double in the modern age. Russian Svetlana Masterkova won both races at the 1996 Atlanta Games and before her Peter Snell won both races for New Zealand at the 1964 Tokyo Games.

Holmes's compatriot Seb Coe won gold in the 1,500 in 1980 and 1984 and silver both times in the 800.

"Words cannot express how I feel," she said. "The 800 was a total shock and today has just blown me away."

Britain grabbed another gold in the greatest upset of the evening when former world junior champion Mark Lewis-Francis just held off former Olympic champion Maurice Greene to win the 4x100 relay by a hundredth of a second.

Britain won their only previous 4x100 gold at the 1912 Stockholm Games, the first time the event was staged, and the US have dominated the event subsequently. The United States won both the women's and men's 4x400 relays.

Russian Yuriy Borzakovskiy at last fulfilled his immense talent with victory in the men's 800 metres in 1:44.45, producing a startling late burst to overhaul Denmark's world record holder Wilson Kipketer in the final 30 metres.

Kipketer, the sentimental favourite who finished second in Sydney four years ago, faded to third behind South Africa's Mbulaeni Mulaudzi.