ATHLETICS: All week they've come from the swimming pool with stories of greatness, of true Olympic competition and how they've just witnessed the race of the century.

Tonight athletics gets to strike back, the final of the men's 10,000 metres capable of rising above all superlatives and all because of one man - Haile Gebrselassie.

For those needing a quiet reminder, Gebrselassie won this race at the last two Olympics, both times after a classic duel with Paul Tergat. The Kenyan has since moved on to the marathon and Gebrselassie has since discovered a new rival, his Ethiopian team-mate Kenenisa Bekele. Once again nothing less that a classic duel is anticipated.

Unlike in Atlanta and Sydney, Gebrselassie has not come to Athens expecting to win. It's Bekele who has now made the 10,000 metres his own, beating Gebrselassie for the world title in Paris last summer, and then last June taking his world record. But the throne hasn't been vacated just yet.

Before he wins this Olympic title Bekele is still seen as the pretender to Gebrselassie's crown. The 22-year-old has mastered cross-country and also took Gebrselassie's 5,000-metre world record this summer, but he knows only the Olympic gold medal will seal his reign as the king of distance.

And Bekele should win. Though he hasn't raced since his world record of 26:20.31 back on June 8th, his fearless ability to travel at any pace, and most of all his finishing speed, has now surpassed Gebrselassie. At 31 and with an achilles injury holding back his final preparations, Gebrselassie is long past the point of being unbeatable.

What he does have in his favour is experience, and the knowledge there is no pressure like Olympic pressure. And while he mightn't have the old leg speed, Gebrselassie would still run across burning coals to get to the finish line first.

Still Bekele should win. Tonight's final is only part of his ambitions in Athens, and he intends on returning next Saturday to win the 5,000 metres - and with that finally match Ethiopia's godfather of distance running, Miruts Yifter.

It's now 24 years since Yifter won the 5,000-10,000 metres double at the Moscow Olympics and put Ethiopia on the sporting world map. And his story remains unrivalled in the nation's athletics history.

In 1972, in Munich, he won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres, but was accused of bypassing his speciality, the 5,000 metres, and ended up in jail as a result. Four years later Ethiopia joined the African boycott of the Montreal Games and Yifter's career seemed to be over.

Undaunted, he trained continuously for Moscow - where he was then aged 40. Adopting the late surging tactics that earned him the nickname "Yifter the Shifter" he won the 5,000-10,000 double. Only in Gebrselassie did Ethiopia finally find a successor.

On a recent visit back to Ethiopia from the Canadian city of Ottawa, where at 64 he now lives in exile, Yifter finally got to meet the young Bekele, whom he admitted he has admired from a distance. But his inspiration runs throughout the Ethiopian team.

"They greeted me with tears of joy in their eyes," said Yifter. "They told me that they admired me and I am so proud of them all.

"And Bekele reminds me of myself when I was a runner. Strong, confident, and ready to take on anyone and any challenge placed in front of him. I just told him to be determined and strong and remember that he has the hearts of 70 million people back home in his legs."

Last year in Paris, Bekele failed in his quest for the double - taking third in the 5,000 metres. Yifter declared him ready this time: "I strongly believe that Kenenisa will win both races in Athens. He has been consistent and going strong for the last two years and I believe that there is no one who can seriously stop him.

"He has faith in his own hands. What he needs is Ethiopian determination, the same will power that kept the nation out of the reach of colonialists more than 70 years ago. That is the drive I had, the same drive Haile Gebrselassie had, and that is the same drive he needs. I believe that he has got it in him and will use it in Athens."

Only three athletes in tonight's final have broken the 27-minute barrier this season - Bekele, Gebrselassie and the third Ethiopian, Sileshi Sihine. All that seems undecided is the order in which they'll stand on the medal podium.