Ramzi wins 800m, joins double gold club

With his victory yesterday, Ramzi became the first athlete to win the middle distance double at the World Championships.

For the 25-year-old Ramzi, a former Moroccan, it was a remarkable achievement by an athlete whose lifetime best was run under difficult circumstances.

He won his 1500 metres at tremendous odds and had to run three consecutive races on successive days to emerge with the glory against a high-quality field of two-lap specialists, defeating Russia’s Athens Olympics champion Yuriy Borzakovskiy who gave chase down the homestretch but had to settle for the silver in 1:44.51.

Kenya’s William Yiampoy (1:44.55) edged out compatriot Wilfred Bungei (1:44.98) for the bronze medal.

Bungei and Bahrainian 16-year-old Mansoor Belal Ali set the early pace through the first lap which was timed at 52.48 secs. Reigning Olympic champion Borzakovskiy moved up on the outside to stay in contact with the front-runners.

Algerian dethroned world champion Djabir Said-Guerni also accelerated and tucked in behind Bungei and Belal Ali.

At the bell, the pace picked up on the backstretch, and that’s when Ramzi charged through on the inside from seventh to third as they raced into the final curve and 180 metres to the finish line.

And Ramzi, a Bahrainian soldier who has shown he has a powerful kick made a brave move as they swing for home, and pulled away for the victory.

Ramzi had joined America’s sprint champion Justin Gatlin (100 and 200) and

Ethiopia’s long distance new record holder Tirunesh Dibaba (10,000 and 5,000) as the individual double gold medal winners of the 10th IAAF World Championships. Cuba’s Athens Olympic champion Osleidys Menendez regained her world title with a new world record throw of 71.70 metres in the women javelin final.

She became the first woman to throw the new style javelin to beyond the 70-metre mark, which earned her the winner’s prize of US$60,000 plus the bonus US$100,000 for the world mark.