updated 5:47 p.m. ET Aug. 20, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - Sprinting the last of his 10,000 meters, Kenenisa Bekele ended the reign of fellow Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie on Friday night with an Olympic-record winning time of 27 minutes, 5.10 seconds.

Bekele broke away from another compatriot, Sileshi Sihine, with a little more than a lap to go. Sihine finished second in 27:09.39, about 30 meters behind Bekele, followed by Zersenay Tadesse of Eritrea in 27:22.57.

Gebrselassie, 31 and suffering from an Achilles injury, had won the last two Olympic 10,000 races. He finished fifth in 27:27.70, in what was probably the final track appearance of his career.

Bekele, 22, will try to become the first man in 24 years to complete the distance double by winning the 5,000 next Saturday. The first round of the 5,000 is Wednesday, with the final three days after that.

The only other men to win both the 5,000 and 10,000 at an Olympics are Emil Zatopek (1948), Vladimir Kuts (1956), Lasse Viren (1972 and 1976) and Miruts Yifter (1980). Yifter, an Ethiopian, was an inspiration for Gebrselassie — who in turn became Bekele’s idol and training partner.

Bekele and Gebrselassie ran together for parts of the race. After the finish, they hugged and then joined hands as they took a victory lap with Sihine beneath the green, red and yellow flag of their homeland.

Bekele took away his mentor’s world title last year. Three months ago, he pulverized Gebrselassie’s 5,000 and 10,000 world records with respective marks of 12:37.35 and 26:20.31, set nine days apart.

Gebrselassie now plans to move up to the marathon.

MORE FROM TRACK AND FIELD

Track and field Section Front

Track great show, but without star Capel gets warning after positive drug test Hungarian Olympians given 2-year bans Williams-Darling's unbeaten streak ends Marion won't race for rest of year Celizic: Two marathon golds only answer Interactive: Rising stars of track & field NBCO: World and Olympic records NBCO: Inside the sport Medal winners Track and field Section Front   Add Track and field headlines to your news reader: