Today, this fifth of 13 children earned the equivalent of 55,000 (£36,000) of his old pay days by becoming only the third Ethiopian to win the London marathon title.

In so doing, Kebede wore down the two Kenyans who have taken the Olympic and world titles in the last couple of years, respectively Sammy Wanjiru and Abel Kirui.

Kebede, who moved clear of his last challenger, Kirui, at the 20-miles mark, went on the finish in 2 hours 5min 19sec, nine seconds outside Wanjiru’s course record set last year, thus emulating the achievement of compatriots Gezahegne Abera and Derartu Tulu.

Kirui’s form fell away drastically in the final stages, and he dropped down to fifth place in 2:08.04.

Kirui’s Kenyan colleague Emmanuel Mutai, finished strongly to take second place in 2:06.23, with 37-year-old Jaouad Gharib, the double world champion, taking third place in 2:06.55.

His Moroccan colleague Abderrahime Bouramdane finished a place behind him in 2:07.33.

Kebede’s family are now ensconced in a large house he has been able to buy with the proceeds of a career that has seen him win Olympic and world bronze medals behind the two Kenyans whom he beat today.

Smiling broadly, he said after his win here that he would be in a position to help his family have "a good life" adding: "Today I have missed my personal best by one second, but I am not disappointed.

"I am very happy with my victory."

Although the Kenyans had spoken before the race about running as a team and passing the halfway mark in 62 minutes, as things turned out that point was passed in just over 63 minutes.

"After 25km the pacing runners stopped," Mutai said.

"I think it was supposed to be at the 35km mark.

"So we had to do it for ourselves at that point."

Mutai, who was one of the athletes flown in on the flight chartered by the marathon organisers, said a 24-hour journey from Nairobi which had involved numerous stops including Luxor and Madrid had had a tiring effect.

But Kebede, whose journey from Addis Ababa had involved stops in Israel and Spain, insisted cheerily that it had not had any detrimental effect on him.

Perhaps it was the gold medal talking.

Wanjiru, meanwhile, dropped out after 25km with a right knee injury that he speculated could have been the result of his long journey from Kenya.

"When I started there was no pain and I felt in good shape," he said.

"I was confident about winning but you can't predict the body.

"I started to feel the pain about 20k and it became very serious.

"Travelling here was very hard and maybe that affected my knee.

"I wasn't comfortable on the plane all that time."

For Zersenay Tadese, who broke Wanjiru’s world half marathon record by 10 seconds last month, the second London Marathon was an improvement on his debut here last year, when he dropped out at 35km after following the searing early pace.

Tadese did finish, but he looked desperately weary as he crossed the line in 2:12.03 in seventh place.

Tadese was just one place ahead of the first Briton home, Andrew Lemoncello, who clocked 2:13.40 on his debut after switching from the 3000m steeplechase.

"I’m disappointed with the time," Lemoncello said, whose next target is the 10,000 metres at the European Championships in Barcelona in August.

"I struggled when I was on my own, but the crowd really lifted me and I will go into my next marathon with a lot more confidence."

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