Yomi Omogbeja (03/09/2004)

Namibia's speedstar Frankie Fredericks won his farewell race tonight at the IAAF golden league meeting in Brussels.

Fredericks won the men’s 200m in front of an appreciative 47,000 Memorial Van Damme crowd in 20.20 seconds ahead of World champion John Capel (20.24 seconds) and olympic silver medallist Bernard Williams (20.24 seconds).

The 36-year-old will retire from international athletics competitions at the end of this season and was recently elected to the IOC Athletes Commission.

South Africa's high jumper Hestrie Cloete however lost out of the golden league Jackpot, losing for the second time in a week to Russian Yelena Slesarenko.

The Russia’s Olympic champion could only manage 2.00 metres on her second attempt with Cloete settling for 1.96 metres after failing to clear the same height on all her three attempts.

African success

Wilfred Bungei led home African champion William Yiampoy and Joseph Mutua in a Kenyan 1-2-3 in the men's 800m.

Bungei, the Kenyan champion sneaked down the inside of lane one to take the win.

World 5000m champion Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya became the ninth fastest man of all-time over 3000m after winning another Kenyan 1-2-3 in 7:27.72.

James Kwalia was second with a personal best time of 7:28.28 with Boniface Songok third in 7:30.62.

The Moroccan double Olympic champion, Hicham El Guerrouj pulled out of the race after being sick in training.

Kenyan Edith Masai, the World bronze medallist, brushed her Olympics failure aside with a personal best and meeting record of 14:42.64 in the women’s 5000m.