The BBC's John Rawling: "I have never seen him run better"

The Moroccan doused the hopes of 50,000 Spaniards with a majestic defence of his world crown.

The Olympic Stadium was brimful to capacity for the first time in the championships as the locals rooted for the three Spanish runners.

But world record holder El Guerrouj proved too strong as he powered to victory.

He clocked a championship record breaking time of 3mins 27.65secs and in the end came home comfortably from his rivals.

Kenyan silver

Promising 20-year-old Noah Ngeny of Kenya - the only man in the field who could get anywhere near the phenomenal El Guerrouj - claimed second place in 3:28.73.

Reyes Estevez gave the home crowd something to cheer about when he took bronze, heading home fellow Spaniards Fermin Cacho and Andres Diaz.

El Guerrouj eased up in the final few yards - but should he have chosen to, it is likely he could have beaten his own world record.

So stunning was his performance in a pacy race, that his time was more than five seconds faster than the previous best in a world games final.

Gebrselassie makes it four

Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia ran through the pain barrier to win his fourth successive 10,000m title in a championship record time of 27mins 57.27secs.

Haile Gebrselassie crosses the line for his fourth title

The 26-year-old, who had badly blistered feet because of the boiling track, beat Kenya's Paul Tergat into second in 27:58.56.

Another Ethiopian Assefa Mezgebu, who was suffering from typhus just three months ago, took bronze.

Olympic champion Gebrselassie stormed home after his Ethiopian teammates had set the pace, with only Tergat capable of staying with them on the final lap.

The BBC's John Rawling: "His tactics were electric"

He said: "The heat was terrible and my feet started to hurt with 10 laps to go," he said.

"However, I knew I didn't have any option but to keep on racing and shut it out of my mind."