ContinueMichael Jamieson completed a great day of medals for Great Britain as he secured silver in the 200m breaststroke, breaking his own British record in the process.
Britain's swimmers have under-performed at these Olympics so far, with just Rebecca Adlington's 400m freestyle bronze to show from the first five days of competition, so this was a welcome surprise for British swimming, as Jamieson was ranked as an outsider. He came fifth at last year’s world championships and second in the British championships a few months ago, so he was clearly delighted with the result.
"I loved it. I had a little more to give after last night. It's so much easier to swim with a bit of confidence behind you,” he told BBC Sport.
"I cannot believe I have got 2:07, but I forgot about the time tonight, it was more tactical. I tried to stay on Gyurta's shoulder for the first hundred. I wanted to have everything on the line.
"I was desperate to get on the podium tonight to repay the faith and support we've had. After last night I thought I could win it but he was too strong in the end.
"I had planned for this night and that helped with the nerves beforehand. For so many years I have gone over this in my head.
"I couldn't have done any more. It was everything I hoped it would be, the crowd bringing me down the final 50m was the greatest experience of my life."
Only a new world record from Hungary's Daniel Gyurta could deny the 23-year-old gold, while Japan's Ryo Tateishi took bronze.
Jamieson, in his debut Olympics, came charging down the final 50m to deafening noise in the Aquatics Centre and closed right up on Gyurta.
But the 2011 world champion held on to touch in 2 mins 07.28 secs, just 15 hundredths of a second ahead of Jamieson and clear of Tateishi's 2:08.29, as the Scot produced the swim of his life and recorded the fourth fastest time in history.
