Lewis digs deep for gold

In a scene reminiscent of Munich 1972 when Mary Peters was the last British woman to claim an Olympic multi-event title, Denise Lewis won the gold medal in the heptathlon in the most dramatic of circumstances yesterday.

When she crossed the line in the 800 metres, the final event, Lewis was unsure whether she had won or not - just like when Peters finished the 200m, the last event of the old pentathlon, 28 years ago.

It was not until the stadium announcer read out the scores that Lewis - born in the week after Peters had completed that famous triumph - knew she was Olympic champion.

The Birchfield Harrier had won by only 53 points from Russia's Yelena Prokhorova with Natalya Sazanovich of Belarus just four points further back to become the first Briton to win an Olympic athletics title since Sally Gunnell took the 400m hurdles title in Barcelona.

She is only the sixth British female athlete ever to win Olympic gold. Besides Gunnell and Peters, the others are the long jumper Mary Rand and the 800m runner Ann Packer in Tokyo 1964 and the javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson in Los Angeles 1984.

A look of relief, as much as elation, spread over Lewis's face when confirmation came of her victory. Because, just as Peters had admitted that she was so exhausted in the final 50 metres that her leg felt like jelly, Lewis revealed that she was dead on her feet in the last 100 metres and feared she had blown it.

The comparisons with Peters did not end there, either. The earlier victory of the men's eights in the rowing meant that Britain won two Olympic gold medals on the same day for the first time since 1972 when Peters and the three-day eventer Richard Meade were only hours apart in triumph.

Peters and Daley Thompson, the 1980 and 1984 Olympic decathlon champion, were both here to cheer Lewis on. "I'm absolutely thrilled and still shaking all over with emotion," Peters said. "I was on the far side with all the Union Jacks.

"They raised my performance 28 years ago and I'm really, really happy that I was here to share the joy with her."

Perhaps also driving Lewis on were the comments of Thompson, who had claimed after she won the bronze medal in Atlanta that she did not train seriously enough.

Lewis, who first made her mark by winning Commonwealth gold in Victoria in 1994, has now joined Thompson as a fully paid-up member of the most exclusive gold-card club of all - that of the world's greatest all-round athlete.

If her commitment and courage have been questioned in the past - perhaps because many have seen her more as a model rather than a model athlete after doing some work for Wonderbra - then that myth was laid to rest here.

Yesterday Lewis's preparations for that last event were overshadowed by an ankle injury so serious that there were real fears she would have to pull out before the race.

"We had 25 minutes to sort it out and we weren't sure we could do it," said Rick Menick, her Dutch physiotherapist. "It wasn't until we tested her five minutes before the event we knew she was okay."

Even then Lewis took to the line with her left ankle heavily bandaged and both calves strapped. Then she battled through the two laps for the last of the seven disciplines to earn her place in the history books.

"I have had big problems," she said. "During the last round of the long jump I hurt my foot somehow. That was one of my worst 800m, but I knew exactly what I had to do.

"I have just seen mum and she was more worried that I was all right than that I had actually won."

It completed a truly brilliant recovery by Lewis, who had fought her way back magnificently into the competition after lying a lowly eighth after two events on Saturday. It was not until the penultimate event - the javelin - that Lewis moved in front, giving herself a 63-point advantage over Sazanovich.

But Prokhorova was the bigger danger, even though she was 146 points behind, as she had a much faster 800m personal-best time than Lewis.

Lewis had to finish within around eight seconds of the Russian to be sure of adding the Olympic title to the Commonwealth and European gold medals she already owns, as well her world championships silver.

The Briton was clearly struggling down the home straight in cold, wet and windy conditions. In the end Lewis, finishing the race seventh behind the winning Prokhorova, made it with less than two seconds to spare - a blink of the eye after two days of intense competition.

Her winning points total of 6,584 was a long way below the Commonwealth record she set earlier this year and her task was made easier by the withdrawal earlier in the day of the world champion Eunice Barber of France, who pulled out after the long jump with a hamstring injury.

Barber joined Syria's Ghada Shouaa, the 1996 Olympic champion, on the sidelines. Shouaa quit after injuring her leg just 20 metres into her opening hurdles heat on Saturday morning.

Barber, already in trouble after poor performances in the shot and 200m on Saturday, managed only 5.93m in the long jump, way below her personal best of 7.01m, before giving up. "She decided finishing 10th was not up to her standard," said Philippe Lamblin, president of the French federation.

That should not detract from Lewis's achievement. The gold medal had looked out of reach early on Saturday when she fell 152 points adrift of Barber after a disappointing high jump.

But the steely resolve that Thompson urged has been realised by Lewis's strict Dutch coach Charles van Commenee. "She didn't come into the Olympics with too much confidence," said Van Commenee. "I told her it would be a mental game. I was worried about her chances after the high jump because she wasn't in control any more. But we knew before that she would probably mess up on one or two events. I told her it was a matter of getting herself together."

If there was one disappointment it was that the organisers held the medal ceremony long after most of the crowd had gone and, when the national anthem rang out, it was to an almost empty stadium.

But the British stayed. "The right people were there," said Lewis. "The Union Jacks were there. They have been the people who supported me over the years."

Her success will be worth millions but last night Lewis was savouring joining the pantheon of Olympic legends. She said: "You cannot put a figure on what this means."