Ezekiel Kemboi of Kenya finally won the men's 3,000 steeplechase gold medal at the World Champion-ships yesterday.

Kemboi, who had earned three straight silvers, put on a replica Barcelona shirt with Lionel Messi's name on the back to celebrate the long-awaited triumph.

Kenyan teammate Richard Mateelong took the silver and Bouabdellah Tahri of France settled for the bronze, breaking the European record and preventing a Kenyan sweep of the medals.

Asked why he was wearing the Barcelona shirt, the 27-year-old Kemboi broke into a broad smile and said "because Messi is a good friend of fine".

"When I am in England, my team is Chelsea; when I am in Italy, my team is AC Milan; and when I am in Spain, my team is Barcelona," said Kemboi, who plays as a forward on the local team in his hometown of Matira.

Kemboi, the 2004 Olympic champion, pulled away in the final lap and crossed the line in eight minutes, 0.43 seconds, a championship record. He came into the meet as the world leader, with the only sub-eight time, 7:58.85.

"It is a great time for me here in Berlin," Kemboi said. "In 2003, I took silver in Paris. I took silver also in 2005 in Helsinki and in Osaka 2007 it was also silver. Now it is golden Berlin."

Kenya has won 12 of the 15 steeplechase medals at World Championships and Olympics since 2004.

"We can't sprint like Usain Bolt, we don't have long jumpers, but when it comes to the steeplechase, that's ours," Kemboi said.