| Mellouli survives late surge to win men’s 10km swim |
LONDON Tunisia’s Oussama Mellouli survived a late surge from his rivals to win the men’s 10km swimming marathon on Friday and become the first person to hold Olympic titles in both pool and open water races.
Mellouli broke clear at the start of the last lap and clung on in the final stages to hold off Germany’s Thomas Lurz and Richard Weinberger of Canada.
The Tunisian, who also came third in the 1500m freestyle on Sunday, finished 3.4sec ahead of Lurz in a superb time of 1hr 49min 55.1sec at a sun-soaked Hyde Park.
World champion Spyridon Gianniotis of Greece finished just outside the medals in fourth place, with Great Britain’s Daniel Fogg fifth.
Mellouli’s victory represented yet another milestone for the pioneering 28-year-old.
In 2008 in Beijing, three months after returning from an 18-month doping ban, he became the first African man to win an Olympic gold swimming medal when he topped the podium in the 1500m freestyle.
He is the second man to have tasted victory in the Olympic open water swimming marathon, after Dutchman Maarten van der Weijden won the inaugural event in Beijing four years ago.
Mellouli also collected a bronze in the 1500m at these Games last weekend.
“I don’t think this has ever been done before. This is probably one of the toughest things to do,” he said.
Mellouli made the early running on a baking hot afternoon on the Serpentine lake, with a pack of swimmers assembling behind him to capitalise on the reduced water tension in his wake.
Agence France-Presse
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