10 August 2012 Last updated at 09:34 ET

Team Ireland is celebrating its first gold medal at London 2012, thanks to boxer Katie Taylor, but the Irish also had an unlikely part to play in another, very special Olympic victory on Thursday.

Kenyan athlete David Rudisha, who took gold in the 800m final, also became the first athlete to set a new world record on the London track.

The 23-year-old is the product of a highly successful training regime set up by an order of Irish missionaries and headed by a 63-year-old Catholic religious brother from County Cork, Colm O'Connell.

Rudisha stormed to the finishing line in a time of 1:40.91 and the blistering pace he set helped to pull all but one of his fellow 800m finalists to a personal or national best.

For some, what he achieved was overshadowed by the colourful exploits of a victorious Usain Bolt, but not for Lord Coe.

Before the race, the London 2012 boss, who twice won silver in the same event, described him as "the most impressive track and field athlete at these games".

After the race, Lord Coe said it would go down as "as one of the greatest Olympic victories".

Rudisha is the latest in a long line of world and Olympic champions produced by a training regime first set up at a Kenyan boarding school.

St Patrick's High School, in Iten, was established in 1961 by Patrician missionaries from Ireland.

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Olympic success for Irish Brother