The Spanish got the one reward they really wanted late on Saturday evening when Abel Anton ran into the packed Olympic Stadium to win the marathon - and there were another 100,000 spectators out on the roads according to police estimates. While he may as well have been the King of Spain judging by the crowd's reactions, Anton will also be rewarded for his efforts. As well as the £60,000 prize-money, Anton picked up a further £100,000 courtesy of the Spanish federation for his gold medal effort. And at a few weeks short of 37 years, he is the third oldest man in World Championship history to win a gold medal - proving, after all, that the marathon is an old man's game.

The city of Seville had done everything possible to keep the course as cool as possible, including turning off all the temperature clocks on the streets so the runners didn't know how hot it was. But with Anton's record (he has now won five of his seven marathons), nobody was too surprised when he appeared out of the tunnel. The man who comes from the same province, Soria, as Spain's other distance idol - Fermin Cacho - was also one of the seven male athletes to defend an individual title won in Athens two years ago.