The Olympic champion and world record holder added a world title to his resume today, taking the lead in the ninth of 10 disciplines when he threw the javelin further than he ever had before.

At the same time, Maurice Smith struggled with an injured right elbow and could only manage a mediocre javelin _ meaning 265 fewer points than his Czech rival in the penultimate event of the two-day competition.

Sebrle improved from third place to a 44-point lead with his PB of 71.18 meters, then finished within two seconds off Smith in the 1,500 to hold on for gold with 8,676 points. Smith took silver with a national record 8,644 and Kazakhstan's Dmitriy Karpov taking bronze.

"This is the toughest of all my titles and very emotional," the 32-year-old Czech said. "Now I have a full collection of medals and titles."

Apart from his Olympic gold in 2004, he won a silver from the 2000 Olympics and two silvers at the last two world championships. He set the world record in 2001.

Sebrle is lucky to be alive, let alone still competing after being speared by a wayward javelin during a training session in South Africa on Jan. 20.

He was standing about 50 meters away from a training area when he was hit in the right shoulder by a javelin, which pierced the skin.

"If it hit me 10 centimeters to the left, it would have punctured my lung; 20 centimeters higher the throat," he said.

Sebrle pulled the javelin from his shoulder immediately and, amazingly, he needed only 11 stitches to the wound.

The close shave did not scare him enough to stop returning to competition, although it did curtail his training for a while. He rushed to recover.

"My motivation still remains," he said. "I need to defend my title from Athens next year."

At times on Friday and Saturday, he wondered whether he had another victory in him.

"I did not have the shape which I expected after the training camp, but it proved decathlon is finished only after the last event," he said. "You need to fight right to the end."

At times he was as much as 226 points behind the leader, with defending champion Bryan Clay taking a big lead after the 100 and long jump and Smith leading from the third through the eighth events.

Clay, a Kane'ohe native, withdrew after four events after injuring his right leg in the high jump and 2003 world champion Tom Pappas pulled out after the sixth with a foot problem _ decreasing the competition.

"That was crazy competition. With so many ups and downs," Sebrle said. "After pole vault, I was thinking that it will be bad, after javelin again good. But I could not be sure before the 1,500 so I tried to control the race and go with Maurice or Dmitriy."

Smith, a 26-year-old Jamaican whose best previous results were a Pan-American Games title and Commonwealth Games silver medal, had few doubts about how it would turn out.

Usually strong on the throws, he knew he could not put everything into the javelin because of a partial tear in his throwing elbow.

"But I really surprised myself with the overall results _ I feel like a winner," he said. "I came here prepared to win a medal."

Now he is throwing down the challenge.