KEY POINTS:
Nick Willis won bronze in the Olympic 1500m final early today, continuing New Zealand's formidable tradition in the glamour track event and taking our Beijing medal tally to eight.
In taking the podium from the field of 12 at the Bird's Nest Stadium, he became the sixth New Zealander to clasp a 1500m medal.
His name joins those of Jack Lovelock (gold, 1936), Peter Snell (gold, 1964), John Davies (bronze, 1964), Rod Dixon (bronze, 1972), and John Walker (gold, 1976).
The 25-year-old made a dramatic home-straight break to come from sixth to third behind winner Rashid Ramzi, of Bahrein, and Kenya's Asbel Kiprop. Ramzi's winning time was 3min 32.94sec.
In the stadium watching Willis create history was his father, Richard, a lecturer at Victoria University in Wellington, and his brother, Steve who has helped coach him this year.
Willis' American coach, Ron Warhurst and his wife, Sierra, were also in the stands.
Willis grew up in Wellington. His mother died from cancer when he was four years old, and he believes it was this which made him a driven child.
"I had to win everything I took part in to maintain my self-esteem," he has said. "I was angry at God for allowing her to die, and often I viewed my life as unfair."
His talent as a young athlete - he set age-group records and ran a world-class time of 4m 01.32s as a 17-year-old - won him a scholarship to the United States at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
There, he became one of America's top college athletes, and started catching the eye of running greats.
After watching Willis in a college race, Irish middle distance speedster Ray Flynn wrote to fellow Olympian Tony Rogers, the last New Zealander to make an Olympic 1500m final: "This kid has got a great set of wheels."
Willis made the New Zealand Olympic team as a 21-year-old in 2004, and reached the 1500m semi-final. He missed the final by one place.
In Beijing, he made the final with a well-judged run on Sunday night, squeezing out world champion Bernard Lagat in the semifinal.
Willis' medal seals a new golden age for New Zealand athletics.
When shot putter Valerie Vili blasted her way to gold on Saturday night, she became the country's first track and field Olympic medallist for 32 years - since John Walker won the 1500m at Montreal.
On the road, Lorraine Moller won a bronze in the marathon in 1996. New Zealand has not won two athletics medals since 1976, when Walker won gold and Dick Quax silver in the 5000m.
NEW ZEALAND OLYMPIC GAMES 1500M MEDALLISTS
1936, Berlin: Jack Lovelock, gold, 3min 47.8sec, world record.
1964, Tokyo: Peter Snell, gold, 3min 38.1sec; John Davies, bronze, 3min 39.6sec.
1972, Munich: Rod Dixon, bronze, 3min 37.46sec.
1976, Montreal: John Walker, gold, 3min 39.17sec.
2008, Beijing: Nick Willis, bronze, 3min 34.16sec.
- NZPA
