Holmes completes double by winning 1,500

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Kelly Holmes of Britain completed a rare double when she captured the Olympic gold medal in the 1,500-meter race Saturday to go with her win in the 800.

Only two other women have won the two middle-distance races at the same Olympics. Both of them were Russians -- Tatyana both Kazankina in 1976 and Svetlana Masterkova in 1996.

"I just can't believe it. I'm gobsmacked," said Holmes, who ran a season-best 3 minutes, 57.90 seconds. "Obviously after the 800 it gave me so much confidence and going through the rounds I was feeling quite good."

Tatyana Tomashova of Russia took the silver 3:58.12 and Maria Cioncan of Romania got the bronze in 3:58.39.

Russia's Yuriy Borzakovskiy upset the favored Africans to win the men's 800.

Borzakovskiy was a silver medalist at last year's world championship in Paris. His only major title before Saturday was at the 2001 indoor worlds in Lisbon.

The mercurial Russian has been a promising runner for several years and he finally lived up to his potential in winning the race in 1:44.45.

Borzakovskiy was fifth coming into the home stretch, but used a powerful kick to surge past Mbulaeni Mulaudzi of South Africa and Wilson Kipketer, the Kenyan-born world record holder who competes for Denmark.

Mulaudzi of South African finished in 1:44.61, edging three-time world champion Kipketer (1:44.65) for silver.

Kipketer was leading out of the final turn, but lost the pace and again failed to win the gold medal he's been seeking for two Olympics. He won silver in at the 2000 Sydney Games.

Holmes, a bronze medalist in Sydney and fourth at Atlanta in 1996, won her first major title in the 800 on Monday, after a series of near-misses. She finished second in the 800 at the 2003 world championship. At the 1995 worlds, she was third in the 800 and second in the 1,500.

She had been training all season for the 1,500 and only decided to compete in the 800 a few days before the Athens race.

Holmes was well behind in Saturday's race, running in the middle of the pack. With half a lap left she began to accelerate from the outside and took the lead coming into the final straight.