OSAKA — News and notes from Day 6 of the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Championships.

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Pick a sport, any sport, and Russia is one of the giants, a favorite to win an individual or team championship.

The tiny nations of the Bahamas and Cyprus are never mentioned in the same conversation as Russia when the topic is about a nation's big-time dominance by a large number of athletes.

Therefore, Wednesday night's shocking news — Donald Thomas picked up the gold and Kyriakos Ioannou received the bronze in the men's high jump — produced great joy on the Caribbean and Mediterranean island nations.

"This is the first-ever medal for Cyprus and I am very proud of that," Ioannou said.

He added: "Words cannot describe how I am feeling right now and I believe that there's a bright future ahead for me."

Responding to a question about what this medal will mean in his hometown, Thomas had this to say: "That everything is possible through God. You never know what he has in store for you."

Thomas, a basketball player who tried the high jump for the first time 18 months ago, has unusual footwear, an equal match to his quick rise to the top of the sport.

"In January this year, I started training in pole vault shoes and ever since then I've been jumping in pole vault shoes," Thomas said.

There's plenty of work for Thomas as he gears up for a shot at the Olympic gold in Beijing next summer.

"My coach and I have worked from the start of this year till now, not too much, just to focus on my jump and get the stutter steps out of my runup," he said. "We really didn't work on going over the bars yet. That's something we'll do next season."

Russian Yaroslav Rybakov, the silver medalist, is one of thousands in Osaka stunned by Thomas' rapid ascension in the event.

"Incredible, a person who didn't jump till last year becomes the gold medalist," Rybakov said. "He has been jumping 18 months. I have practiced hard for 18 years, but he is the gold medalist. The result is everything."

Ioannou wasn't shocked by what Thomas did on the humid Kansai evening.

"I was with Donald in the Commonwealth Games and when I see him (jump) without spikes I think, "this is crazy, but he jumped 2.23 and got fourth," Ioannou said.

Thomas cleared 2.35 meters to snatch the gold and trigger at least 2,350 parties in the Bahamas.

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DID YOU KNOW? Kenya's Wilfred Bungei, who had the world's fastest time in the 800-meter race in 2003-05, considers three his lucky number. He said that if he's assigned to Lane 3 or has a three in his bib number it makes him happy.

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A WINNER'S THOUGHTS: "My first world championship was 1991 in Tokyo. That was special, so maybe it is special now that I came back to Japan and win my third gold medal," Germany's Franka Dietzsch said after capturing the gold in the women's discus on Wednesday night.

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WHAT'S IN A NAME? Ethiopian distance runner Sileshi Sihine's surname means "victory" in Amharic.

Sihine ran the fifth-fastest 5,000 of all time, 12:47.04 in 2004.