Views from SunSport’s Martin Lipton
Glorious gold for GB men’s eight as the world champions claimed Olympic glory.
Sholto Carnegie, Rory Gibbs, Morgan Bolding, Jacob Dawson, Charlie Elwes, Tom Digby, James Rudkin, Tom Ford and cox Harry Brightmore held off Holland and the USA in a terrific race for the line.
But it gave a golden ending to a sensational team effort with Britain winning eight medals - including three golds - from just 10 boats across the regatta.
The GB crew were locked in a battle royal with the Dutch at the first timing mark, having nudged a fraction ahead.
By the 1000m mark, it was the Dutch who led by just 0.12 seconds.
But that was the cue for the GB eight to go through the gears, leading by a quarter of a length with 500m to go.
The question was whether they could hang on.
They could, to win by around a third of a length in 5:22.88 to win by 1.1 seconds from the Dutch, with the USA in third.
Red-headed Brightmore threw down his cap and stood on the bow of the boat to celebrate as his crew celebrated more modestly.
That was until they neared the jetty in front of the main stand, when they let out a collective scream of delight.
Meanwhile, women’s eight cox Fieldman has just become the first athlete to collect an Olympic medal for both a men’s AND women’;s event.
Fieldman was cox to the men’s eight that won bronze in Tokyo and he has matched that here in Paris.