They had set alarm clocks and drunk coffee to stay awake through the night to cheer Thorpe as he took on the cream of world swimming in what was billed as the "race of the century".

Making a weary way to work Australians were greeted with front-page photographs of Thorpe punching the air and the words "I'm Not Done Yet", an ominous warning that the Australian is already eying the Beijing Games in 2008.

"Thorpe wins the race of his life" and "Thorpe stands alone in history", declared the newspaper headlines.

Talk radio burst with nationalist pride and Internet chat rooms were buzzing with discussion of Thorpe's Olympic feat.

Prime Minister John Howard was quick to congratulate him:

"It's a huge honour to be the greatest Olympian in Australia ever," he said.

"It is a tremendous performance."

In a nation where sport ranks above all else, Thorpe was already a national hero after his three gold medals and two silvers at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

His fifth gold, after earlier taking the 400 freestyle in Athens, places him at the top Australia's sporting pantheon, surpassing fellow swimmers Dawn Fraser and Murray Rose and runner Betty Cuthbert, who all won four.

Paul Bellotti, concierge at a Melbourne office building, said: "The man is a freak" -- an Australian compliment.

The Sydney Morning Herald said Thorpe would return "with the title of the world's best swimmer", no matter how many gold medals much fancied American teenager Michael Phelps wins.

At 21, Thorpe has seven Olympic medals in all, one short of the record held by Fraser and fellow swimmer "Madame Butterfly" Susie O'Neill.

"Ice man conquers in bloodless coup", gushed Sydney's Daily Telegraph tabloid, which devoted its first three pages to Thorpe's narrow win over Dutchman Pieter van den Hoogenband, Phelps and fellow Australian Grant Hackett.

"This was a heavyweight bout," it said, adding that the mild-mannered Thorpe had been out for revenge after van den Hoogenband won the event in Sydney four years ago:

"They say revenge is a dish better eaten cold. Thorpie was the ice man. Thorpie was back on the throne."

And indeed the final sparked an atmosphere at the Olympic aquatic centre worthy of a heavyweight fight with four Olympic champions in the field including two -- Thorpe and Phelps -- who had already struck gold here in Athens.

Van Den Hoogenband, who shocked the 17-year-old Thorpe to claim the gold at the Sydney Olympics four years ago, led at every turn. But it was the Australian freestyle great who was in front when it mattered, his deceptively languid-looking stroke taking him past the Dutchman on the final lap to a victory in an Olympic record of 1min 44.71sec.

Van Den Hoogenband took the silver in 1:45.23, while Phelps, a relative newcomer among freestylers of this caliber, earned the bronze with an American record of 1:45.32.

The swimming superstar has meanwhile said he has no plans to slow down.

"I hope we'll be swimming again in Beijing," Thorpe said of a chance of continuing his rivalry with Van den Hoogenband at the 2008 Olympics.

"I said to Pieter I would like to race him again in Beijing," Thorpe said.

"Michael should still be racing, and in four years there will probably be another athlete to rival us -- that is if we're still at the top of our form."

Phelps said his close-up view of Thorpe at the Athens Olympics has be

Since surging to prominence at the 1998 Perth World Championships, Thorpe has swum without peer.

He has won 11 world titles, including six in 2001 in Japan where he set world records at 200m, 400m and 800m, along with a record-equalling 10 Commonwealth Games gold medals, nine Pan Pacific titles and 18 national titles.

He has broken 13 long course world records. At Perth in 1998 he became the youngest-ever world 400m champion.

At Barcelona last year he became the first swimmer to win three consecutive world titles in one event, his favoured 400m freestyle.

Phelps, whose eight-event programme in Athens has made him the centre of a media storm, was also impressed by Thorpe's ability to cope with the expectations that come with sports superstardom.