David Rudisha has revealed watching footage of Sebastian Coe's races while he was growing up inspired him to his sensational 800 metres world record.

And he also paid tribute to his father Daniel, a silver medallist from the 1968 Games, for giving him the desire to become an Olympic champion.

The Kenyan became the first athlete at London 2012 to break a world record on the track last night as he stormed to gold in one minute 40.91 seconds.

It was a simply breathtaking display as he destroyed a high-class field, leading, as he always does, from gun to tape and not for one moment looking like falling short of the record.

It was the greatest performance at the Olympic Stadium so far in a week which has seen Usain Bolt retain his 100 and 200m crowns.

Lord Coe, the London 2012 chairman and former 800m world record holder, a title he held from 1981 to 1997, praised the run as "simply unbelievable".

Rudisha said: "The first time I met Seb Coe was when I broke his stadium record in Oslo in 2010.

"He was the man that I wanted to meet in my life and my career because I used to watch a lot of his races on YouTube.

"He encouraged me one time by saying 'You are the only man who can break the world record'. I was very happy and inspired by him.

"He was the world record holder and he ran 1min 41secs and he told me I can do it.

"I believed him and later that year I broke the world record twice."

The 23-year-old broke the world record twice in the space of eight days in August 2010 in Berlin and then Rieti, Italy.

He added: "In February I was here in London. He (Coe) invited me to go to the Olympic Park.

"It was a privilege for me, it was an honour for him to invite me to come and see the main stadium.

"I felt special so when I went I said 'let me train hard, let me do my best so when I come back I can make him proud'.

"He said when I met him yesterday he was very happy. He congratulated me and even told me 'you can improve a second or half a second off your world record'."

Rudisha's run last night saw him go one better than his father Daniel, who took silver in the 4x400m relay in Mexico City.

His father and the rest of his family watched events unfold on a big screen back in Kenya last night.

"Before I started my race I was just thinking of my father sitting in front of the TV watching back at home," Rudisha said.

"I know he's always proud and he's always encouraged me. He's the one who made me come this far because if he was not an athlete I don't know if I could have become a great athlete.

"He won the silver medal in 1968. I have always been dreaming of adding to that, even to better it by winning the gold medal.

"I was once going through a magazine from the 1960s and he was talking about wanting to break the world record in the 400m and he couldn't do it. But for his son to come and do it here I think is a great honour."