Kenenisa Bekele stormed to the men 's 10,000 meters title as his once all-conquoring fellow Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie ended at the Olympic Games on Friday night.

Bekele, the reigning world champion and holder of the world record, won the gold in an Olympic record of 27:5.10 after a brilliant surge of speed in the final laps.

Two-time champion Gebrselassie, who had been in the leading pack for much of the race, trailed in fifth, failing to live with the pace towards the end.

Bekele and teammate Sileshi Sihine broke clear in the closing stages but the former ensured himself of the gold medal when he sprinted away from 500m out.

Sihine had no answer as Bekele made a solo run for the title. Sihine took silver in 27:09.39 and Zersenay Tadesse of Eritrea was third in 27:22.57.

Bekele has beaten Gebrselassie's 5,000m and 10,000m world records this year and is expected to win a second gold from the 5, 000 meters. Bekele was never threatened by the expected Kenyans, who failed to finish in the top five.

In a glittering career, Gebrselassie has broken 17 world records indoors and out, won two Olympic 10,000m golds and four world 10,000m titles. In Sydney, he put up an epic final against arch-rival, Kenya's Paul Tergat. With less than a lap to go, the men were neck-and-neck, roared on by 110,000 spectators in Stadium Australia.

Gebrselassie has said that he will retire from track after Friday's race and focus on marathon after the Olympic Games.

The day's other gold medal went to Italian Ivano Brugnetti in the men's 20km walk in 1:19:40, ahead of Spain's Francisco Javier Fernandez in 1:19:45 and Australian Nathan Deakes 1:20:02.

"I was not sure if I could win, but I was hoping to get a medal, " said Brugnetti. "I was a little bit lucky to win this gold but I was not afraid of the race."

Morocco's four-time world champion Hicham el Guerrouj launched his bid for an Olympic gold and was fastest in his heat in a time of 3:37.86.

Kenyan Bernard Lagat, the bronze medallist from the Sydney Games, was forced to kick off one of his shoes with 300 meters to run after American Alan Webb stepped on his foot.

That did not trouble Lagat a lot and he finished second in his heat to advance to the semifinals.

The 44-year-old Merlene Ottey, now representing Slovenia, and two-time Olympic 100m champion Gail Devers of the United States, both reached the semifinals of the women's 100m sprint.

Ottey, competing in a record seventh Olympics, cruised through by finishing third in her heat in 11.24, while Devers only squeezed into Saturday's semifinals with the slowest qualifying time of 11.31.

Yuliya Nesterenko of Belarus was the fastest in the first round in 10.94 and she did it again in the quarter-finals with a time of 10.99.