Bahrain's defending champion, Marayam Yusuf Jamal was awarded the gold medal.

 

 

Rodríguez was punished after a collision with the race favourite, Gelete Burka, 250m from the finish as she tried to pass on the inside, causing the Ethiopian to fall.

 

Rodríguez stumbled but was able to continue and crossed the line first ahead of Jamal, with Dobriskey crossing the line only 0.01sec later.

 

Dobriskey's success went a long way to making up for her failure to win a medal in Beijing last year after a poor tactical run in the final.

 

She said: "I'm chuffed to bits.

 

"The race was so surreal, it went by me.

 

"Last year I was so disappointed and I didn't want to finish in that position [fourth] again.

 

"I started the winter with a stress fracture in my lower back and was out for three months.

 

"At the end of May I had a bone stress [fracture] in my left thigh.

 

"I can't quite take it in at the moment.

 

"There are so many people I need to thank.

 

"Just to get me on the start line was a major achievement."

 

Britain's 4x400m relay team also produced a fine run to take a silver medal.

 

Conrad Williams, Michael Bingham, Rob Tobin and Martyn Rooney finished second behind a dominant American quartet.

 

After an excellent first leg from Williams, Bingham took Britain into a second place they would only briefly relinquish to Australia midway through the third leg.

 

Tobin kept his cool to reclaim second place down the home straight and Rooney brought the baton home as the British team clocked 3:00.53, almost three seconds behind the United States.

 

Australia took bronze.

 

Tobin said: "I went out nice and relaxed and knew I was going to come home strong.

 

"The day we've beaten the Aussies in the Ashes we had to come and do it on the track as well."

 

Bingham, who fnished seventh in the individual 400m, said: "These guys gave me such an uplift.

 

"I didn't want to go out too quick, so I relaxed, stayed calm and set up Rooney in a good position.

 

"It's my first senior medal and it's about time we got a relay medal.

 

"We've had good teams and always come fourth or sixth."

 

Britain's Mo Farah finished seventh in the men's 5,000m as Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele (pictured) completed a first ever long-distance double.

 

The double Olympic champion followed up his triumph in the 10,000m on Monday by sprinting past America's defending champion Bernard Lagat in a dramatic last lap.

 

Bekele said: "I'm so happy for my country as I am the first Ethiopian to win this title."

 

Lagat, who earlier in the Championships had won a bronze medal in the 1500m, said that even at 34 he was not considering hanging up his spikes.

 

He said: "You will see me again, for a long, long time.

 
"I will be getting stronger next year.

 

"I am especially looking forward to the 2012 Olympics in London.

 

"I lost my title, but I am very happy with what I achieved today."

 

In the women's 4x400m final, Britain's team of Lee McConnell, Christine Ohuruogu, Vicki Barr and Nicola Sanders finished fourth but were never in contention for a medal.

 

The US took gold, more than three seconds ahead of Jamaica, with Russia third and Britain more than seven seconds behind the winners in fourth.

 

Earlier China claimed their first ever women's marathon world title when Xue Bai took gold and Norway's two-time Olympic champion Andreas Thorkildsen ended his title drought at these championships after two silvers with gold at last.

 

Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, meanwhile, gave South Africa a World Championships 800 metres double when he won a thrilling men's race.

 

The 2004 Olympic silver medallist stumbled at the finish line and barely hung on to claim the gold in one 1:45.29.

 

Compatriot Caster Semenya won the women's race earlier in the week after the International Association of Athletics Federations announced she was undergoing gender verification tests.

 

Defending champion Alfred Kirwa Yego of Kenya was second in 1:45.35 with bronze medallist Yusuf Saad Kamel of Bahrain given the same time.