ATHLETICS:  They left certain they'd witnessed part of history, a moment not likely to be repeated in their lifetime. And this not because of one race but arguably three. It was like Saturday night inside the Olympic Stadium was designed to be unforgettable.

When Hicham El Guerrouj won the 5,000 metres and his second gold medal in five days, the night of greatness was sealed. In the race before, Yuriy Borzakovskiy had become Russia's first winner of the men's 800 metres, and just before that Britain's Kelly Holmes had run into Olympic history by completing the 800-1,500 metres double.

They left determined to book their seats in Beijing.

And it was a night that drew comparisons with true Olympics legends - starting with Finland's king of distance Paavo Nurmi. In 1924 in Paris he won the 1,500 metres and 5,000 metres at the same Olympics, a feat since deemed unmatchable.

Two hours before he arrived at the Olympic Stadium on Saturday night El Guerrouj thought about Nurmi. Later when he'd matched his feat by winning an epic 5,000-metre battle with Kenenisa Bekele, adding to his 1,500-metre gold of last Tuesday, the 29-year-old Moroccan recounted his source of inspiration.

"To me Paavo Nurmi is a great legend. And he has marked history at his point in time. Now by winning two gold medals like he did I have marked history at my moment in time. I think my grandfather used to watch him run. I have no words to describe that.

"And on my way to the stadium I thought about Paavo Nurmi. I thought, Hicham, this is a great day for you. If you want to keep this moment and win another gold medal, this is the day."

It wasn't just doing the double that has marked his moment in history, but how he did it. His 1,500 metres gold on Tuesday came after failures in Atlanta and Sydney.

To win the 5,000 metres he had to beat Bekele, the Ethiopian world-record holder and the man also chasing another Olympic title to add to his 10,000 metres gold last Friday week.

As expected there was nothing in it, with El Guerrouj, forced out into lane three, kicking past Bekele in the final 50 metres. His winning time was 13 minutes 14.39 seconds - Bekele a fifth of a second behind. Kenya's world champion Eliud Kipchoge, who'd upset them both in Paris last year, took the bronze in 13:15.10.

"I knew I would have to work very hard," added El Guerrouj. "But when I saw the way Bekele was running, I said now I will win, they're making a big mistake. Their strength is rhythm, mine is speed. So I was quite relaxed, very at ease in the race.

"I just let my opponents do the work, and waited until the final 100 metres. I think it was a great duel, great for this sport and great for this generation of athletes. Because I think this is the millennium of exceptional athletes.

"All this year it was my objective to win both. But the 1,500 metres gold was the most important. Only 20 per cent of my training was for the 5,000 metres. But I wasn't thinking about breaking the world record. The next stage will be to do that, next year, to establish a new world record for the 5,000 metres."

Quietly sitting next to him during this press conference was Bekele, still only 22 and perhaps prematurely burdened with the task of Olympic doubles: "I was quite tired because of the 10,000 metres, which I did win. And then the semi-final . . . If I had started going earlier, maybe he wouldn't have got ahead. But he is very, very fast."

Speed indeed was the deciding factor. When Bekele led through 3,000 metres in a casual 8:10.89 the race had already fallen for the big kickers. Kipchoge tried to salvage the pace in the closing laps, but with a 52.93 final lap El Guerrouj was assured of gold - and his claim to be the greatest of all time. The only thing Nurmi has on him is that he won his two gold medals within two hours.

Fast finishing of a more frantic sort also decided the men's 800 metres, with the 23-year-old Borzakovskiy came from fifth at the bell, fifth with 200 metres to go, and still fifth with 50 metres to go, to strike gold. His time of 1:44.45 was just enough to edge past Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa, and the tiring world-record holder Wilson Kipketer of Denmark.

It was the Olympic title Borzakovskiy had promised for years, his powerful stride and cool tactics making him the most exciting 800-metre runner of his generation. Yet the qualified welder, who has a three-year-old son, was left one of the greatest expressions of amazement seen inside the Olympic Stadium.

For the 31-year-old Kipketer, the former Kenyan who was second in Sydney and was ineligible for Atlanta, there were no excuses: "Maybe I'm just unlucky at the Olympics. I was ready to go one step up from Sydney, but I've gone one step back. So I'll just have to wait until Beijing."

There was no such feeling of lost opportunity in the voice of Kelly Holmes (34), with her 1,500-metre gold medal won with the same force and confidence as her 800-metre gold last Monday.

Her 800-metre winning time of 1:56.38 was very impressive after two qualifying rounds, but her 1,500-metre time of 3:57.90 - again after two qualifying rounds - was stunning, a British record, and perfectly executed, to beat the Russian Tatyana Tomashova.

Suddenly Holmes has become contender for Britain's greatest female distance runner of all time.

"The 800 metres was a total shock," she said, "but today just blew me away. But for seven years I've had loads of injuries and brought back silvers and bronzes.

"Now I've had an injury-free year and look what happens."

Britain had another gold medal on the night when Mark Lewis Francis out-dipped Maurice Greene to win the 100-metre relay - a poor exchange on the second leg killing the Americans.

But two gold-medal contenders couldn't produce the finish they desired. Three-time defending javelin champion Jan Zelezny of the Czech Republic could only manage seventh behind Norway's surprise champion, Andreas Thorkildsen, who threw a personal best of 86.50.

And in the women's high jump South Africa's Hestrie Cloete had to settle for silver behind Russia's Yelena Slesarenko, who cleared an Olympic record of 2.06.

CYCLING: Irish champion Robin Seymour finished 30th in the Olympic men's cross country mountainbike event on Saturday. He was 13 minutes and 30 seconds off that set by the victorious Frenchman Julien Absalon, who was one minute ahead of Spaniard Antonio Hermida. Dutch rider Bart Brentjens took bronze.