Matthew Pinsent won his fourth successive Olympic gold medal amid tears of joy and relief yesterday as the British coxless four beat Canada in one of the closest rowing finals ever.
Pinsent, Sydney 2000 champion James Cracknell, Ed Coode and Steve Williams were neck and neck with the world champions for the last 500m but hung on to win by 0.08 seconds.
With the stands full of British flags, and the fans rising as one in an enthusiastic rendition of "God Save the Queen," four years of hard work and sacrifices were rewarded.
Pinsent's stiff upper lip crumb-led and he sobbed on the podium.
"It's been immensely emotional all week," said the Briton, who kept his options open about the future after earlier suggesting he would retire.
There were also fine victories for New Zealand identical twins Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell in the women's double sculls and Australian duo James Tomkins and Drew Ginn in the men's coxless pair.
It was Tomkins's third gold in four Games.
HIGHLIGHT RACE
The men's coxless four, the last of seven finals on the day, was the main attraction.
Both crews sat slumped in their boats waiting for the photo-finish result before the Britons punched the air and did a lap of honor past their raucous fans.
Pinsent and Cracknell won gold in the four's in Sydney, helping Steve Redgrave to win his fifth Olympic gold title.
Britain, hit by injury and crew changes before the Games, had a foot lead for the majority of the race but favorites Canada staged a dramatic late surge.
In the men's coxless pairs, world champions Australia gave a lesson in finesse and flawless technique.
The Australians, renowned for their long, elegant style, beat Croatia's Skelin brothers by over half a length. South Africa took bronze.
FIRST MEDAL
The Evers-Swindell sisters handed New Zealand their first medal of the Athens Games, beating Germany with Britain taking bronze.
In the women's single sculls, Germany's Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski won her second Olympic gold, overcoming her two biggest rivals.
She beat double Olympic champion Ekaterina Karsten into silver and double world champion Rumyana Neykova into bronze.
In the men's single sculls, world champion Olaf Tufte came from behind to win Norway's first medal of the Games.
Romania's women's coxless pair, Georgeta Damian and Viorica Susanu, retained their Olympic title and hinted at retirement.
The men's double sculls were won by world champion French duo of Sebastien Vieilledent and Adrien Hardy, who surprised the Olympic champions Slovenia and favorites Italy.
Athletics
World champion Carolina Kluft looked set to become only the second woman in Olympic history to break the 7,000 barrier in the heptathlon after raising her total to 5,208 points yesterday.
With two events remaining in the grueling two-day competition, the Swede had a huge 329-point lead over Kelly Sotherton of Britain.
The only heptathlete to break the 7,000 mark in the Olympics was Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who did it in 1988 in Seoul and in 1992 in Barcelona.
Kluft soared 6.78 meters in the long jump to expand her lead over Sotherton. The javelin and the 800 meters remain in the evening session. Austra Skujyte of Lithuania was third, 505 points behind Kluft.
Joyner-Kersee's world record is 7,291, set in Seoul.
100m title
Maurice Greene, trying to become the first man with back-to-back Olympic 100 titles since Carl Lewis in the 1980s, won his preliminary heat in 10.18 seconds.
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