Rashid Ramzi won the Olympic men's 1500 meters title on Tuesday to give Bahrain the first medal at the Beijing Olympics.

The 28-year-old timed three minutes 32.94 seconds to add the gold to his 2005 world champions. Asbel Kipruto Kiprop of Kenya took silver in 3:33.11 while Nicholas Willis of New Zealand took bronze in a time of 3:34.16.

Kiprop took the bell in the lead but Ramzi passed him down the back stretch and led into the final straight with Kiprop on his shoulder while Willis was toiling in third.

Down the straight Ramzi eased past Kiprop and crossed the line less than one meter to the good of Kenyan, who like his three compatriots in the women's 800m, marathon and 3000m steeplechase had to settle for a minor medal.

Another Kenyan Asbel Kipruto Kiprop took up the early pace and went through the 800m point in 1:56.06 and 1200m in 2:52.67 until Kiprop went to the front. With few laps to go, the leading group was still up to five runners but while the Ramzi was to be fended off there was no stopping him who cantered home.

In 2005 Ramzi became the first athlete in history to win both the 800m and 1500m races at a single World Championships.

(Xinhua News Agency August 20, 2008)