ATHLETICS/World Championships: If the true definition of greatness includes some reference to overcoming adversity then Kenenisa Bekele is now assured of his place in the pantheon of distance runners. There was nothing extraordinary about the way he won last night's World 10,000 metres final at the old Olympic Stadium - but it does conclude an extraordinary story.

Bekele defended the title he first won two years ago aged only 21 by simply running to his strengths, injecting a few timely surges in the closing laps before delivering another killer kick at the business end of the race.

His time of 27 minutes, 8.33 seconds brought him home a few strides clear of teammate Sileshi Sihine; the 20-year-old Moses Mosop restored a little pride to Kenya by taking third in 27:08.96.

Bekele has already proved his speed and endurance are unrivalled in distance running, and rarely has he run with such confidence. Yet the obvious delight at this victory must still come with a certain sense of grief. No one knows what goes through his mind now when Bekele lines up for a race - but he couldn't have missed the fact that last night should also have been the three-month celebration of his wedding.

"It is always nice to win gold whether in the Olympics or the World Championships," he explained in much-improved English, obliging at least a dozen interview requests in the mixed zone. "But this year I will never be truly happy because of my sorrow. I am still not 100 per cent."

In many ways then the story of this victory starts on January 4th, the day Bekele was training with his fiancée, Alem Techale, in the wooded hills outside Addis Ababa. As they approached the end of their run she leaned against a tree, complaining of chest pains. Bekele sprinted on to get his car but she reportedly died of a heart attack en route to the hospital. She was buried by nightfall.

When Bekele emerged from mourning just 40 days later he was clearly in a world of his own, miscounting the laps at the Boston Indoor Games, allowing Ireland's Alistair Cragg to beat him. He lost another race soon afterwards and seemed headed for at least temporary decline.

Then he showed up at the World Cross Country at the end of March, unshaven but deeply motivated, and won a golden double for the fourth consecutive year. Clearly, he was back with even greater strength and greater courage - and will now leave Helsinki looking increasingly likely to overtake his compatriot Haile Gebrselassie as the greatest distance runner of all time.

Bekele won't, however, be back on Thursday to attempt a double.

"I always prefer the 10,000 metres," he added. "That was the race I wanted to win. So I am not going to run the 5,000 metres here. Definitely not. In my heart I am still too sad. I still have to get better."

It was a true championship 10,000 metres, all the hard running reserved for the second half of the race. Bekele needed a 54.38-second last lap to beat Sihini, who is a year younger at 22, and the last kilometre was 2:28.98 (Eamonn Coghlan ran the last kilometre of his 5,000 final 22 years ago in 2:25.45).

It was a race also notable for lack of European interest, with Spain's Juan De La Ossa the best non-African, in 10th - and the Swiss Christian Belz the only other European finisher. The Italian Alberto Cova won the inaugural title here back in 1983, and since then Ethiopia or Kenya have won all the rest.

By the looks of things though there'll be a novel winner of the 1,500-metre final tomorrow night in the person of Rashid Ramzi of Bahrain. The former Moroccan produced a mind-blowing semi-final last night just as he did in Saturday's heats, chasing down the American Alan Webb - who'd blown the field apart after one lap - to ease home in 3:34.69. It seems Ramzi can win any way he wants, fast or slow, but it remains to be seen if the 25-year-old proves a worthy successor to his former teammate Hicham El Guerrouj.

Apparently, Ramzi still has pictures of El Guerrouj on his wall but has run under the colours of Bahrain since joining their armed forces three years ago.

Webb was rewarded for his front running with second place in 3:36.07, but among the casualties on the night were Britain's Michael East (who could only manage 11th in 3:40.27) and the French gold-medal hope Mehdi Baala, whose legs totally deserted him in the first semi-final; he came home eighth in 3:41.34.

Spain's Arturo Casado looked impressive when taking second in that race behind Adil Kaouch, who is standing by his Moroccan flag and took the win in 3:40.51.

Europe's surrender in distance running is more or less complete, but we are making an impact in other areas. The Swedes continue to prove how things can be done with proper nurturing of talent by taking gold and bronze in the women's high jump.

Kajsa Bergqvist won the title just 24 hours after Carolina Kluft's success in the heptathlon. The 28-year-old, who missed the Athens Olympics through injury, cleared 2.02 at the first attempt and took her first World title ahead of the American Chaunte Howard, who cleared two metres even. The 20-year-old Swede Emma Green took third with 1.96.

MEN

10,000m Final: 1 Kenenisa Bekele (Eth) 27mins 08.33secs, 2 Sileshi Sihine (Eth) 27:08.87, 3 Moses Mosop (Ken) 27:08.96, 4 Boniface Kiprop (Uga) 27:10.98, 5 Martin Irungu Mathati (Ken) 27:12.51, 6 Zersenay Tadesse (Eri) 27:12.82, 7 Abebe Dinkesa Negera (Eth) 27:13.09, 8 Abderrahim Goumri (Mor) 27:14.64, 9 Nicholas Kemboi (Qat) 27:16.22, 10 Juan Carlos de la Ossa (Spa) 27:33.42, 11 Yonas Kifle (Eri) 27:35.72, 12 Charles Kamathi (Ken) 27:37.82, 13 Abdihakem Abdirahman (USA) 27:52.01, 14 Christian Belz (Swi) 27:53.16 (NR), 15 Gebre-egziabher Gebremariam (Eth) 27:53.19, 16 Sultan Khamis Zaman (Qat) 27:53.33, 17 Dieudonn Disie (Rwa) 27:53.51, 18 John Yuda Msuri (Tan) 27:57.31, 19 Yu Mitsuya (Jpn) 27:57.67, 20 Mohammed Amyn (Mor) 28:12.59, 21 Khalid El Amri (Mor) 28:37.72, 22 Terukazu Omori (Jpn) 28:59.46, Mebrahtom Keflezighi (USA) DNF.

1,500m Semi-Finals: Heat 1: 1 Adil Kaouch (Mor) 3mins 40.51secs (Q), 2 Arturo Casado (Spa) 3:40.61 (Q), 3 Alex Kipchirchir (Ken) 3:40.68 (Q), 4 Rui Silva (Por) 3:40.72 (Q), 5 Reyes Estevez (Spa) 3:40.73 (Q), 6 Nicholas Willis (Nzl) 3:40.87, 7 Kevin Sullivan (Can) 3:41.00, 8 Mehdi Baala (Fra) 3:41.34, 9 Youssef Baba (Mor) 3:42.12, 10 Rob Myers (USA) 3:42.38, 11 Johan Cronje (Rsa) 3:42.77, 12 Markos Geneti (Eth) 3:42.80. Heat 2: 1 Rashid Ramzi (Brn) 3mins 34.69secs (Q), 2 Alan Webb (USA) 3:36.07 (Q), 3 Tarek Boukensa (Alg) 3:36.14 (Q), 4 Daham Najim Bashir (Qat) 3:36.38 (Q), 5 Ivan Heshko (Ukr) 3:36.60 (Q), 6 Juan Carlos Higuero (Spa) 3:36.65 (Q), 7 Yassine Bensghir (Mor) 3:36.76 (Q), 8 Christopher Lukezic (USA) 3:37.20, 9 Adrian Blincoe (Nzl) 3:38.20, 10 Nathan Brannen (Can) 3:39.37, 11 Michael East (Gbr) 3:40.27, 12 Joeri Jansen (Bel) 3:44.88.

Hammer Throw Final: 1 Ivan Tikhon (Blr) 83.89m (CR), 2 Vadim Devyatovskiy (Blr) 82.60, 3 Szymon Ziolkowski (Pol) 79.35, 4 Markus Esser (Ger) 79.16, 5 Olli-Pekka Karjalainen (Fin) 78.77, 6 Ilya Konovalov (Rus) 78.59, 7 Krisztin Pars (Hun) 78.03, 8 Vadim Khersontsev (Rus) 77.59, 9 Libor Charfreitag (Svk) 76.05, 10 Andriy Skvaruk (Ukr) 76.01, 11 Holger Klose (Ger) 74.80, 12 Vladyslav Piskunov (Ukr) 74.78.

WOMEN

100m Final: 1 Lauryn Williams (USA) 10.93secs, 2 Veronica Campbell (Jam) 10.95, 3 Christine Arron (Fra) 10.98, 4 Chandra Sturrup (Bah) 11.09, 5 Me'Lisa Barber (USA) 11.09, 6 Sherone Simpson (Jam) 11.09, 7 Muna Lee (USA) 11.09, 8 Yuliya Nesterenko (Blr) 11.13.

3,000m Steeplechase Final: 1 Docus Inzikuru (Uga) 9mins 18.24secs (CR), 2 Yekaterina Volkova (Rus) 9:20.49, 3 Jeruto Kiptum (Ken) 9:26.95, 4 Korene Hinds (Jam) 9:33.30, 5 Salome Chepchumba (Ken) 9:37.39, 6 Yelena Zadorozhnaya (Rus) 9:37.91, 7 Cristina Casandra (Rom) 9:39.52, 8 Mardrea Hyman (Jam) 9:39.66, 9 Elizabeth Jackson (USA) 9:46.72, 10 Bouchra Chaabi (Mor) 9:47.62, 11 Yamina Bouchaouante (Fra) 9:48.48, 12 Minori Hayakari (Jpn) 9:48.97, 13 Ines Monteiro (Por) 9:50.35, 14 Wioletta Janowska (Pol) 10:00.03, 15 Carrie Messner (USA) 10:11.20.

400m Semi-Finals Heat 1: 1 Sanya Richards (USA) 50.05 (Q), 2 Amy Mbacke Thiam (Sen) 50.83 (Q), 3 Natalya Antyukh (Rus) 50.990.94, 4 Nawal El Jack (SUD) 51.85, 5 Tiandra Ponteen (Skn) 51.88, 6 Shericka Williams (Jam) 52.44, 7 Donna Fraser (Gbr) 52.48, 8 Anna Kozak (Blr) 52.73. Heat 2: 1 Svetlana Pospelova (Rus) 50.34 (Q), 2 DeeDee Trotter (USA) 50.73 (Q), 3 Christine Amertil (Bah) 51.03, 4 Christine Ohuruogu (Gbr) 51.43, 5 Lorraine Fenton (Jam) 51.48, 6 Kaltouma Nadjina (Cha) 52.07, 7 Fatou Bintou Fall (Sen) 52.35, 8 Anna Guzowska (Pol) 52.45.

High Jump Final: 1 Kajsa Bergqvist (Swe) 2.02m, 2 Chaunte Howard (USA) 2.00, 3 Emma Green (Swe) 1.96, 4 Anna Chicherova (Rus) 1.96, 5 Viktoriya Palamar (Ukr) 1.93, 6 Tia Hellebaut (Bel) 1.93, 7 Viktoriya Styopina (Ukr) 1.93, 8 Amy Acuff (USA) 1.89, 9 Dra Gyrffy (Hun) 1.89, 10 Venelina Veneva (Bul) 1.85, 11 Iva Strakov (Cze) 1.85, 12 Iryna Mykhalchenko (Ukr) 1.85.