Inzikuru, who had already set two African records this year, was overjoyed at her unique achievement.

"I am so grateful to win the first ever medal for Uganda," said the 23-year-old. "This is something very great for me and for my country. It's precious.

"I think they are going to be so proud of me for a good job. I think there will be lot of crowds (welcoming me in Uganda)."

Yekaterina Volkova of Russia took the silver and Jeruto Kiptum of Kenya the bronze but they posed no major threat to Inzikuru, who took command of the race from the start.

"I took the position because I don't like running behind others," Inzikuru said. "I've been suffering from some knee injuries but now I'm happy to be able to run again."

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Going into the penultimate lap the Ugandan, the favourite to win gold, had opened up a clear gap and never looked threatened as she won in nine minutes 18.24 seconds.

"I thank God for helping me and for helping my sisters (the other runners) because we run like sisters," said Inzikuru.

"I think it was a very good race, a good day, even though the weather was heavy. Today everybody ran with fair play. We weren't pushing each other, we treated each other with respect."

The International Olympic Committee's executive board will decide at its November meeting whether to introduce the 3,000 metres steeplchase event to the 2008 Beijing Olympics.