On a night of defending champions making unlikely comebacks for gold, Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba added another 10,000-metre Olympic title and further established herself as the greatest female long-distance runner in history.
After missing a year to injury, Dibaba produced a devastating kick with 600 metres to go to leave her Kenyan rivals in her wake and give Ethiopia an early edge in the great African distance running rivalry.
And with such a kick and poise, the 26-year-old Dibaba showed she is more than capable of repeating as double Olympic long-distance champion with the 5,000 coming up.
In the shot put, it was Poland's Tomasz Majewski who became the first repeat Olympic champion in 56 years, beating world champion David Storl. He was an unlikely champion in Beijing four years ago, and this year was no different as most analysts expected a battle between the Americans and Storl of Germany
AP