Victory for Arab women, says winner

At the Olympic Games in Sydney, Nouria Merah-Benida of Algeria has won the women's fifteen-hundred-metres.

She finished ahead of Violeta Szekely and Gabriela Szabo, both of Romania.

After a victory lap carrying an Algerian flag, Merah-Benida said her gold medal was a victory for Arab women; she said: "Europeans have sponsorship and facilities -- but we have courage and heart." There was also a silver medal for Algeria when Ali Saidi-Sief came second in the men's five-thousand metres, behind Million Wolde of Ethiopia.

Brahim Lahlafi of Morocco was third.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service