Rio Olympics 2016: My doping is Jesus, says 10,000m world record holder Almaz Ayana

Ethiopia's Almaz Ayana shut her critics, who accused her of doping, with her spectacular victory in the 10,000 metres at the Rio Olympics.

The athlete, who has been embroiled in a doping controversy, attributed her performance to hard work and her faith. "My doping is my training, my doping is Jesus - otherwise I'm crystal clear," she told an international news agency.

The 24-year-old broke one of the longest-held records in athletics when she completed the 1000m in 29 minutes, 17.45seconds. She beat the previous record of 29 minutes, 13.78 seconds set by Wang Junxia in 1993.

"I'm not sure I can understand that," Radcliffe said. "When I saw the world record set in 1993 I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And Ayana has absolutely blitzed that time," British women's marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe was quoted as saying.

Ayana also said that she had no plans to set a world record while heading into the race. "It's amazing. I saw the record after the race," she said. "My only plan was to win the race."

Ahead of the Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) threatened to ban Ethiopia from international track competition because of substandard dope testing. Three runners were suspended on doping allegations.

The IAAF also placed placed the country in "critical care" with four other nations over failures in their anti-doping regimes, in March.