Golden moment arrives at last

Athletics Men's 1500 metresCunningham. Bannister. Landy. Ryun. Ovett. Cram. All great milers all world record holders and in their time unbeatable and all failed to win the Olympic 1,500 metre title. One of the thoughts that must have entered the mind Hicham El Guerrouj in the final strides.

But no, no way was El Guerrouj about to join that list. So, maybe eight years, and definitely four years after he should have been crowned, El Guerrouj of Morocco is today the Olympic 1,500 metre champion, his moment made all the more ecstatic by the wait.

At last, then, the failures and memories of Atlanta and Sydney were made redundant by what unfolded in Athens last night.

It was a race he was forced to lose and then win again. A great race. Though he is still a few weeks short of his 30th birthday there can't possibly be another moment to surpass this. At least not in the 1,500 metres.

In the end it came down to the greatest ally of the distance runner, pure willpower. When the Kenyan Bernard Lagat came alongside El Guerrouj in the home straight, and then passed him, the ghost of another failure materialised in the bones of his face.

But from some locus of which only he is aware, El Guerrouj summoned one last surge of that willpower. He edged back in front, winning by less than half a foot. His time of three minutes, 34.18 seconds just 0.12 of a second ahead of Lagat. Portugal's Rui Silva came through to take bronze in 3:34.68.

It was a race loaded with tension, with even a false start thrown in. With the pace not falling to his liking, El Guerrouj hit the front a full two laps from home. Besides that last testing moment down the home straight he remained in command.

Within seconds of crossing the finish line he was deep in prayer, and then in tears. Lagat sat on the track next to him, partly in adoration of the great champion. The Kenyan had given his all.

On his lap of honour the Moroccan found his 19 year-old wife and newborn child. Two people who will be the only ones to ever hear about his failures now, how he'd come to Athens having twice before failed in this moment. Tripped and fell in Atlanta, run down by Noah Ngeny in Sydney.

You could argue that only two athletes that were expected to win the Olympic 1,500 metre title over the last 40 years actually won it. John Walker in 1976 and Noureddinne Morceli in 1996. But their pressure was nothing compared to El Guerrouj, and yet he joins that list.

What he brought to Athens though was the sort of supremacy most athletes only dream of - undisputed number one for the past eight years. During that time no other athlete in any other event has come even close to the domination that El Guerrouj has held over 1,500 metres. His world record of 3:26.00 has remained untouched and he's won four consecutive world titles.

Over those eight years there have been constant reminders of his greatness. How he's only lost four 1,500-metre or mile races since he tripped and fell in the final in Atlanta - one of those in Sydney, and two more this season. In fact, when he was beaten in Rome in July it ended a streak of 29 wins in either the 1,500 metres or mile that went back to Sydney.

El Guerrouj has often said he wants to be remembered as the greatest miler who ever lived, but that he'd have to win the Olympic title to be sure he would. Now he's definitely in the reckoning.

He also becomes only the fourth male Moroccan to win an Olympic gold medal - joining the great Said Aouita, the unheralded Brahim Boutaib, and the infamous Khalid Skah.

If, as he says, he'll come back tomorrow evening for the heats of the 5,000 metres then El Guerrouj will no doubt face off with Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia for the defining distance race of these Olympics.

The unfortunate honour of finishing fourth last night went to the other Kenyan Timothy Kiptanui, with Ivan Heshko fifth, and Britain's Michael East an honourable sixth in 3:36.33.

All this just part of a great climax to the best night in the Olympic Stadium so far. It ended with the surge of electricity that was the Russian Yelena Isinbayeva improving her own pole vault world record to 4.91 metres - more than good enough to win the gold medal.

Most relieved of all to reach the end of it were the 39 finest all round athletes in the world, their 10 events now at an end - and their champion was Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic.

The world record holder had never won a major title, but he eased past America's Brian Clay during the final events, winning in an Olympic record of 8893 points. Clay took silver with 8820, with Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan third on 8725.