5,000m final:Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele has become the first man to hold both the 10,000m and 5,000m Olympic titles in 28 years, after setting a new Games record in the final of the latter this afternoon. After his preparation was hampered by an Achilles injury, Ireland's Alistair Cragg withdrew from the race with six laps remaining, but today was all about the man who many will now claim is the greatest distance runner of all time.
His time of 12:57.82 was enough to blitz the field and put him in the company his compatriot Miruts 'The Shifter' Yifter, who beat Eamon Coughlan in the 1980 final.
Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge was unable to follow the world record-holder when he broke for home after the bell and finished second in 13.02.80. His compatriot Edwin Cheruiyot Soi took bronze in 13.06.22.
"This is very special for myself and my country," said the three-times 10,000m world champion, who with Tirunesh Dibaba swept all four men's and women's long distance events for Ethiopia in Beijing.
"It was a fantastic day for me. I was so happy to achieve this performance ... It's not easy to achieve double gold in the Olympics."
Bekele, who ran with his brother Tariku and compatriot Abreham Cherkos for much of the race, had wanted a quick race but said the Ethiopians had changed their tactics early on.
"We discussed the race beforehand but we did not do what we said we would," he said.
"We talked about maybe after five laps going faster, but we started earlier, from the beginning, after one lap. We changed the plan during the race and I'm sorry the other Ethiopians don't have a medal."
Bekele said it was too early to say whether he would follow compatriot Haile Gebreselassie, a twice Olympic 10,000m champion who never won the double at a Games, into running the marathon.
"Look at me, I'm still young," he said.