Athens - Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco ended eight years of agony here on Tuesday as he won the elusive Olympic Games men's 1 500 metres gold medal.
The 29-year-old four-time world outdoor champion won a thrilling duel with Kenya's Bernard Lagat to cross the line in 3min 34.18sec and fulfill a promise he had made to his baby daughter Hiba while rocking her in her cot.
Lagat took silver in 3:34.30 and Rui Silva of Portugal won the bronze in 3:34.68.
"The last few metres I just refused to let him go," El Guerrouj said as he reflected on the cliffhanger, shoulder to shoulder battle to the line with the gallant Kenyan.
"I was so desperate for the title that I had to hold on such was the desire in me to win.
"Its amazing to think that in Sydney I was crying tears of sadness and here I am crying tears of joy. I'm like a five year-old with a toy."
El Guerrouj said that each time he felt Lagat on his shoulder he thought it would be a repeat of his defeat in the 2000 Olympics.
"I felt Lagat coming again and again. At one point I thought this was Sydney all over again.
"He kept coming back at me like an avalanche but when Lagat closed on me for the last time I just found that extra energy."
'Great champion'
Lagat said that he was a spent force by the time the Moroccan regained the ground on him.
"I went out hard and at the end I had nothing left," said the 29-year-old.
"I couldn't have asked any more of myself. El Guerrouj came here to show that nobody's ever going to be able to count him out and he proved that. I congratulate him. He's a great champion.
"I gave 100% but Hicham gave 101%."
El Guerrouj's coach Abdelkader Kada said that his protege could now truly be called the greatest ever miler.
"Before this race Hicham had won everything except the Olympics," he said.
"Now I think he can truly claim to be the greatest miler in history. We've been working 17 years for this."
El Guerrouj had taken up the pace with two laps remaining after an early slow pace set by the three Kenyans in the race.
At the bell, El Guerrouj was still in front but being tracked by Lagat, the bronze medallist in 2000, and the menacing form of Ukrainian Ivan Heshko loomed large.
They soon shook off Heshko but Lagat stuck to him like a limpet and on the final bend moved alongside him.
Neither could get the edge.
El Guerrouj held his own but then, 40m from the finish, Lagat moved ahead.
The Kenyan couldn't kill off his rival and the Moroccan was back alongside him and then pushed ahead with just metres left to win a quite outstanding battle.
