Sheer power and the glory for two Britons as they achieve their golden dreams Pride of our Sally as she clears final hurdle and sets world record

to drive home to Essex.

But still she was not content. ''I want to go even faster,'' said

Gunnell, freshly crowned the world champion in the women's 400 metres

hurdles.

Gunnell, who used to deliver oven-ready turkeys from her family's farm

between training sessions, saw it all pay off, as her pluck won the

crown and she roasted her rivals in the greatest race of the

championships -- and the first world track record by a woman in an

Olympic event since 1988.

Gunnell clocked 52.74 seconds, with runner-up Sandra Farmer-Patrick of

the USA just five hundredths behind, also inside the seven-year-old

mark.

The Essex woman, unbeaten in all eight races this year, is now the

most successful British female athlete ever. Runner-up at the world

championships two years ago, she won the Olympic crown in Barcelona last

year. She also is the reigning Commonwealth champion.

But last night's crown was the hardest to win. Farmer-Patrick, whose

style is as rugged as Gunnell's is fluent, blasted out from the gun,

trying to dominate her rival, and headed Gunnell at the last of the 10

flights.

Those final 40 metres to the line were the furthest Gunnell must have

run, but she never faltered. ''I had to dig deep, and concentrate hard.

''But the world record was a total bonus. There is definitely more to

come. I have 52.50 in my mind -- this year, next year, but I can go

faster.''

And she vowed to defend her Olympic title and world crown. ''I'll be

carrying on for a bit,'' said the 27-year-old.

''I didn't know I'd won it straight away. I waited a few seconds

before I started celebrating till I saw the replay on the board.''

Style and class is also the hallmark of Merlene Ottey. The statuesque

and elegant Jamaican sometimes looks as though she would be more at home

on a catwalk than a running track, but last night she was the model of

sprinting perfection as she won the 200m in 21.98 by two hundredths from

Gwen Torrence.

Without a major title in an otherwise medal-laden career, and cruelly

denied the 100m crown in a photo finish fracas, it is significant that

this perceived injustice finally triggered the 33-year old.

Until now she had had amassed four Olympic and five world bronze

medals, but her 100m defeat here was the cruellest of all, sharing the

same time as the winner, but denied a share of the gold.

The jury of appeal was on overtime as protest and counter protest flew

over the women's high jump and men's 1500m.

Three times world record- holder Stefka Kostadinova of Bulgaria, the

triple world indoor champion and former Olympic silver medallist, was

ruled out despite clearing 1.91m, the same height as the 12 leaders. But

she was in thirteenth place on countback.

Matthew Yates won his first-round 1500m heat and Steve Cram also got

through, but not without controversy.

The Geordie world mile record holder tangled with Germany's European

champion, Jens-Peter Herold, causing him to crash to the track with 170

metres left. Herold initially conceded: ''It was an accident.'' But

within minutes his delegation had lodged a protest.

This opened a potential can of worms, for the former world champion,

Abdi Bile, Europa Cup double champion Andrei Bulkovsky, and South

African Johan Landsman were also fallers, and all appealed. Only Bile,

the only man pushed, was reinstated.

''I will be the most unpopular man in Germany tonight,'' said Cram

afterwards. ''As my hand came forward, his foot came up. As soon as that

happened, I knew he was going down, so I moved to the side, otherwise I

would have gome down too.

''It was an accident,'' added Cram, who placed a consoling arm round

the deflated German. ''I apologised to him. It was one of those

things.''

Fastest qualifier (3-37.84) was Noureddine Morceli, who had threatened

not to come, supposedly because there is no prize money, and the

athletes live in poor conditions while the IAAF heirarchy enjoy

five-star luxury. The Algerian's agent, Amar Brahamia, said: ''We did it

for a principle, not the money. It is a protest to show there is

hypocrisy in the sport.''

Scotland's Tom Hanlon worked hard and qualified for tomorrow's

steeplechase final with 8-23.16, only a fastest loser, but sixth

quickest of the finallists. But Vikki McPherson could finish only

seventeenth in her 10,000m heat with 33-49.51, well outside her best on

a hot night.

Sergei Bubka needed only three clearances, at 5.70m, 5.90m, and 6.00m

to win the pole vault before three abortive attempts at the world best

of 6.14m.

Dan O'Brien heads the decathlon at half way with 4598 points, just

four clear of Paul Meier of Germany.

MEN

400m hurdles: Final -- 1, K Young (US) 47.18sec; 2, S Matete (Zam)

47.60; 3, W Graham (Jam) 47.62; 4, S Diagana (Fra) 47.64; 5, E Keter

(Ken) 48.40; 6, O Tverdokhleb (Ukr) 48.71; 7, D Adkins (US) 49.07; 8, B

Kinyor (Ken) 49.23.

Pole vault: Final -- 1, S Bubka (Ukr) 6.00; 2, G Yegorov (Kazakhstan)

5.90; 3 (equal), M Tarasov (Rus), I Trandenkov (Rus) 5.80.

WOMEN

200 metres: Final -- 1, M Ottey (Jam) 21.98sec; 2, G Torrence (US)

22.00; 3, I Privalova (Rus) 22.13; 4, M Perec (Fra) 22.20; 5, M Onyali

(Nig) 22.32; 6, N Voronova (Rus) 22.50; 7, G Malchugina (Rus) 22.50; 8,

D Young (US) 23.04.

400m hurdles: Final -- 1, S Gunnell (GB) 52.74sec. (world record); 2,

S Farmer-Patrick (US) 52.79; 3, M Ponomaryova (Rus) 53.48; 4, K Batten

(US) 53.84; 5, T Buford (US) 54.55; 6, D Hemmings (Jam) 54.99; 7, R Edeh

(Can) 55.19, 8 N Torshina (Kazakhstan) 55.78

Discus: Final -- 1, O Burova (Rus) 67.40m; 2, D Costian (Aus) 65.36;

3, Min Chunfeng (China) 65.26.