It was Greece's night at the Olympic Stadium on August 25.

Fani Halkia captured the women's 400m hurdles gold medal before a boisterous home crowd.

The 25-year-old, European Cup winner early this year, clocked 52.82 seconds for the gold, sending the capacity crowd at the Olympic Stadium into frenzy.

Romania's Ionela Tirlea-Manolache took the silver in 53.38 seconds and the bronze went to Ukraine's Tatyana Tereshchuk- Antipova in 53.44.

"It was an incredible race," said Halkia. "I was feeling good with myself. The crowd was amazing from the get go and the atmosphere they created was unprecedented for me. I wanted to prove that when the Greeks put their mind to it, they can step up the highest spot on the podium."

She added: "I believe that what I did today goes to show that Greeks are full of soul, and they deserve recognition from everyone. No-one expects the Greeks to have such achievements to show for; it always comes as a surprise, whether you're a Greek fan or not."

This was Greece's second gold medal from the track and field and sixth in total at the Olympics. The first was won by Athanasia Tsoumeleka in the women's 20km walk.

The day's other two gold medals went to Russia's Olga Kuzenkova in the women's hammer throw and Jamaica's Veronica Campbell in the women's 200m.

Kuzenkova, 33, silver medalist in the Sydney Olympics four years ago, threw an Olympic record of 75.02 meters for the gold.

Twice world champion Yipsi Moreno of Cuba won the bronze with 73.36 meters and her compatriot Yunaika Crawford took the bronze in 73.16.

Campbell, 22, who has already got a relay silver at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, won the race in 22.05 seconds, bettering her own world leading time by 0.13 seconds.

This was the second medal at the Olympics for the Jamaican, who placed third over 100m.

Campbell led the 200m race from the start and was already well ahead of her rivals at the start of the final straight.

Allyson Felix of the United States, 18, took the silver with a world junior record 22.18.

Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas won the bronze with a seasonal best of 22.50.

Elsewhere on the night, some big names progressed into the next round in their competitions.

American great Marion Jones, who has been hit by a doping investigation at home, was excited after finally making her appearance in the Games.

"I'm excited to finally be back on the track and competing," said Jones, who qualified for the women's long jump finals.

Jones fouled her first jump, which landed out near the seven meter mark. On her next attempt she took off right on the back of the board and landed at 6.70m to qualify.

"It was an emotional and powerful moment. The first jump, I wanted to put it out there and send a message," said Jones, who won three golds and the long jump bronze in Sydney four years ago.

Kenenisa Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj, men's 10,000m and 1, 500m champions respectively, also easily qualified for the 5,000m finals.

Bekele of Ethiopia won heat 1 in 13 minutes 21.16 seconds and Moroccan El Guerrouj, who returned from Tuesday's emotional victory in the 1,500m, was third in the heat in 13:21.87.

World record holder Wilson Kipketer led the field into the second round of the men's 800m.

The 34-year-old Kenya-born Kipketer, who holds the world record of one minute 41.11 seconds, led the 48 runners after winning heat 31:44.69.

But four-time world 110m hurdles champion Allen Johnson of the United States was knocked out of the Games after falling at the ninth hurdle in a second round race.

"I don't know why, I just fell," said Johnson, who won the gold in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

"I was not disturbed by anything around me. I did it once. I came to do it twice, but it didn't work out."