Emperor passes on his crown to Bekele

Even in defeat there is still no athlete on the planet who takes the breath away like Haile Gebrselassie. So he lost another 10,000m final in Paris last night but before finally surrendering to Kenenisa Bekele he provided one more truly great exhibition of distance running.

It might well be remembered, too, as the night Gebrselassie handed over his throne to young Bekele, the athlete who in Ethiopia was already known as his perfect successor. As a race, though, last night's final wouldn't have been the same without the presence of the previous four-time champion.

In typical championship fashion the field played a few mind games in the opening laps but the real race had yet to begin. They passed half way in 13 minutes 52.13 seconds, and even by then Gebrselassie had reduced it to all-African affair. In fact he was only warming up, and led the second 5,000m, which was covered in an incredible 12:57.44.

But when it came to the all-out sprint over the last 200m it was Bekele who found the higher gear and moved in front. He breezed past his compatriot on the final bend and crossed the line in 26:49.57, the sixth fastest of all time. Gebrselassie ran 26:50.77.

"Maybe I am Haile's successor now," said the 21-year-old Bekele, already the two-time double world cross county champion. "But my victory is also for him."

Gebrselassie never once surrendered his trademark smile, and fell immediately into the arms of Bekele. They were soon joined by the third Ethiopian, Sileshi Sihine, who ran 27:01.44 to ensure one flag would surround the medal podium.

Kenya's great hope, Charles Kamathi, the man who took the title from Gebrselassie in Edmonton two years ago, chased hard until about six of the 25 laps remained. And then dropped out. "They were just too strong," he said in a short but fitting reaction.

The first non-African was Holland's Kamiel Maase, back in eighth place (27:45.46), but Ireland's Cathal Lombard - running in his first track championships - found the whole experience a little too hard to handle.

After running positively for the first half of the race he then had to endure much suffering, before coming home in 17th place in 28:36.43, well short of his pre-race target.

Long after the rest of the field was still coming to terms with the dominance of the Ethiopians, Gebrselassie was happy to relive the moment.

"The most important thing tonight was to have three Ethiopians on the podium. We had team tactics and obviously they worked. The gold is no doubt better than silver, but I am as happy for Kenenisa as I am for myself."

And a few more statistics help make this race all the more memorable. With Gebrselassie still doing so much of the running they ran the last kilometre in 2:29.02 - sub-four minute mile pace - and the last lap in 54.8.

What made the Ethiopian performance all the more memorable was it came just 24 hours after Berhane Adere gave the world the same lesson in the women's 10,000m. She survived the surging running of China's Yingjie Sun for most of the race before delivering a killer kick over the last 300m to win in 30:04.18 - the third fastest time in history.

Werknesh Kidane passed the Chinese athlete for silver, and ensured another devastating display by the Ethiopians. Adere is due back on the track tomorrow for the heats of the 5,000m, and a possible showdown with Sonia O'Sullivan.

Unfortunately, Ireland's representative Marie Davenport in the woman's race was unable to start. A bad dose of the flu had kept in her bed for the whole day and on doctor's instructions she stayed there for the whole night too.