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Audley Harrison was mad. The big man's golden moment had come and his left hand was hurting; he was so mad he kicked his way through a door.

But Britain's first Olympic boxing champion for 32 years re-focused on his dream after receiving a fax from Lennox Lewis, the super-heavy gold medallist for Canada in Seoul 1988 and more acutely aware than most of the specialised territory Harrison was treading in Sydney.

It concluded 'Nuff respect from one Olympic champion to another.

Audley stopped feeling sorry for himself and went out to claim the super-heavy gold medal by eclipsing Mukhtarkan Dildabekov 30-16 on a marvellous last night of the Poms in Australia.

Before defeating the man from Kazakhstan, Harrison had to win a decision from the doctor. An 8am medical was believed to be touch and go. Would Audley be knocked-out before his chance of glory?

In Harrison's words, the knuckle on his left hand was swollen "like a golf ball," an old injury which flared during his semi-final triumph over the Italian Paolo Vidoz on Friday.

The problem was kept secret right up until the final, and fortunately the doctor cleared Harrison to pursue his piece of sporting history, the first boxing gold since Chris Finnegan's in Mexico in 1968 and Britain's 13th in all Olympics.

Lewis, in training for his next world heavyweight title defence against David Tua on November 11, told Harrison: "Me and my training team have been watching you in Sydney with great pride, along with many millions of British fans. You carry the hopes of a nation on your broad shoulders. I know you are up to the task. Stay focused and I know you will get the job done."

Harrison admitted: "I was feeling a bit sorry for myself. I was mad. But I read the fax from Lennox and I stuck it up on the wall and thought 'hell, am I going to let any hand trouble deny me my gold?'

"I was here to be an Olympic champion, it was my destiny. That nice touch from Lennox made re-focus on what I was here to do. All respect to him.

"I'm elated, it hasn't sunk in but it know it's definitely something special. I always l knew in myself I could do it. I had my obstacles to overcome in getting this far, and even at the last minute I had problems both in the ring and out of the ring. I've got great people round me, I'm just glad I've pulled it off for myself, for Great Britain and for amateur boxing lovers in the country.

"The Brits over here have got behind me, and so have the people back home. People are trying to knock boxing, but it is a sport people will get behind if they have genuine people to get behind. Boxing's got the appeal of the British public and I was just glad I could assist in that and I'm glad I'm coming home with the gold medal.

"There was a slight danger I would not have passed the medical. Last night I was very apprehensive; I didn't go to bed until half-past-one. My knuckle was the size of a golf ball, we'd been working on it all night, and I got up thinking it was 50-50. If the doctor was really going to by picky about it there was a good chance I wasn't going to get past the his examination.

"But there was nothing we could do about it. All we could do was to get the swelling down a bit. I was up at five o'clock partly with worry - it was out of my hands. If all I had to do was pass a doctor, I could take care of the rest, I was going to go through the pain barrier and whatever it took to deliver.

"We had a scan on the hand; it's a problem that can be sorted fortunately. I've carried on with it, keep damaging it, re-damaging it and not having the operation I should have had.

"I've come through another test both mentally and physically, I'd have gone in there with one hand if I had to, and I would still have pulled it out because I wasn't going to be denied. Now it's an amazing feeling."

Harrison had made a habit of slipping behind early on while assessing the opposition, and the final was no different. And he had to be sparing with his normally productive left hand and get more use out of his right. That plan did not work to perfection, so Audley simply had to whack with his painful limb, and grit teeth.

From 0-2, the kind of eye-catching burst of accurate punches which have been the feature of his campaign quickly took Harrison to 3-2 at the end of the first round. Adding power to his game, Harrison swept from 4-2 to 9-4 by the end of the second. Four minutes to gold.

When Dildebekov pulled it to 9-8 in the third by virtue of his trademark overarm right, British hearts fluttered, but Audley blazed brilliantly again, mastering the method to benefit from the computer scoring system.

Judge's fingers on the keypad went into overdrive with Harrison as he flew to 18-12 with the last round to come.

Two minutes to fame. Audley was not about to let go the ultimate prize to the 1999 World Championship silver-medallist.

The British contingent, including his brothers and friends, waved their Union Jacks and chanted Harrison to the finishing line..18-13...23-15...27-16... it went , and finally 30-16 - then the buzzer. Mission accomplished.

Harrison added: "He was one of the guys I didn't think would get through, so I didn't really study him before I came. But when he beat the Cuban I started to study him, and I saw a lot of flaws, I knew he was very open and my game-plan was to line him up with the jab, but I was a bit tentative about throwing the left.

"We put something in there to try and kill the pain a bit. I was looked for counters with right to body and head which didn't really work, so after that I threw my left hand, starting letting it go, bringing the punches up and it working nicely in the second and third and in the fourth round I was prepared to go with him.

"They said he was strong, but I'm 110 kilos and I'm a strong guy. I enjoyed that fourth round as much as I was feeling the pain. I never felt I was behind, I just pulled away like I did against the Italian in the semi-final."

After two years of preparation it is time for rest, reflection and to savour the moment. For a month, Audley will put boxing on hold.

He added: "I'll be locking away all my boxing kit, all boxing videos, all analysis for a month. I'm going to see a few specialists about the hand when I get home and then I'm going to start to see what the future holds. No decisions yet.

"I've been training since I qualified, so that's a year. I've improved 30-40% since last year when I pulled up short in the World Championships. So with a little bit of improvement I knew I could make the grade. I'm just going to enjoy this moment, it's a special moment. In November and December, I will travel the world to show my gold medal."