Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele on Saturday found his way into the Olympic record books by becoming the first athlete in 28 years to clinch the long-distance running double.
BEIJING: Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele on Saturday found his way into the Olympic record books by becoming the first athlete in 28 years to clinch the long-distance running double as the world's biggest sporting extravanga reached its very last stage with a whopping 32 gold medals being decided on the penultimate day.
The 26-year-old Bekele, who had won the coveted gold medal in the men's 10,000 m run earlier, made it a memorable Olympics by taking the honour in the 5000 m race with an Olympic record timing of 12m 57.82 secs.
He emulated emulated female compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba's remarkable feat of claiming a rare long-distance double in these Games.
It was the first long distance double gold by an athlete since compatriot Miruts Yifter's feat over the same events at the 1980 Moscow Games.
Bekele, the world record holder in both the 5000m and 10,000m, saw off the challenge posed by Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge who finished second with a timing of 13:02.80 sec. Kenya's Edwin Soi took the third position with 13:06.22 sec.
Hosts China continued their dominance by scooping up a few more gold medals to increase their overall tally while favourites Argentina lived up to their awesome reputation by taking the gold medal in men's football with a solitary goal win over Nigeria in the summit showdown.
In the showpiece athletics event, where seven gold medals were decided today, Kenya's Wilfred Bungei achieved an impressive timing 1m 44.65 sec to take the honour in the men's 800 m event.
With just one day left in the Games, hosts China were all set to emerge on top of the medals table with an impressive haul of 49 gold, 17 silver, 27 bronze medals for an overall tally of 92.
The United States of America, who were a trifle disappointing in the track and field events, were in the second position with a tally of 31-36-36 while Russia dislodged Great Britain to occupy the third position with 19-20-23. Great Britain were pushed to the fourth spot with a tally of 18-13-14.
Kenya's Nancy Jebet Langat won the women's 1,500 m final with a timing of 4min, 00.23secs. Ukraine's Iryna Lishchynska, third at last year's world championships, was second in 4:01.63 with compatriot Nataliya Tobias third 4:01.78.
Norway's Andreas Thorkildsen won his second consecutive Olympic men's javelin title with a throw of 90.57 m.
In the high-voltage football final, Lionel Messi set up the match winner for Argentina who expectedly got the better of a determined Nigeria with a 1-0 verdict.
The football superstar broke free from Nigeria's tight defence to put Angel Di Maria clear early in the second half in a closely contested match played at the Bird's Nest in sizzling temperature.
Doping controversies, meanwhile, continued to haunt the Games with Ukrainian weightlifter Igor Razoronov being kicked out of the Olympics for testing positive, thus becoming the sixth athlete to be caught for doping offence.
Razoronov tested positive for the steroid nandrolone after finishing sixth in the 105-kg category on Monday, the International Olympic Committee said.
The 38-year-old Razoronov was disqualified and expelled from the games.
The IOC asked the International Weightlifting Federation to adjust the competition results and consider any further sanctions.
In women's handball, Norway pulled off a major surprise by stunning champions Russia with a 34-27 scoreline to claim their country's first women's handball Olympic gold medal.
Four-time world champion Julien Absalon of France won his second straight Olympic gold medal in men's mountain biking getting the better of countryman Jean-Christophe Peraud for the title.
Earlier, Sabine Spitz of Germany took the women's title, leading almost from start to finish.
Maxim Opalev of Russia won the gold medal in men's 500-m canoe single, giving him his third medal in the last three Olympics and first gold.
Opalev paddled away from a tight field to win in 1 minute, 47.14 seconds. He took bronze four years ago in the Athens Games and silver in Sydney.
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