ContinueEd McKeever has stormed to victory in the men's 200m kayak to win Britain's 26th gold medal of the 2012 Olympics.
The 28-year-old dominated the K1 single final, with Spaniard Saul Craviotto Rivero taking silver and Canada's Mark de Jonge bronze at Eton Dorney.
McKeever crossed the line in 36.246 seconds to win Britain's second ever Olympic canoe sprint gold medal after Tim Brabants won at Beijing in 2008.
The Briton adds Olympic gold to his 2010 world and European titles.
After his Olympic triumph he told BBC Sport: "I'm so happy. I feel relief. It sounds stupid but it's not elation, more relief and I'm so happy to do it front of a home crowd.
"I was like a kid at Christmas this morning waiting to open his presents. I get to open those presents soon.
"A hard wind made the race a bit longer. I wanted to focus on the first three strokes, I wanted to nail them and hopefully the rest sorted itself out which it did."
After a difficult week for Britain in the canoe sprint events, McKeever raised hopes of a medal when he set an Olympic record in the heats, as gold medal favourite Piotr Siemionowski crashed out.
McKeever slipped to the third fastest time overall in the semi-finals, behind de Jong and Rivero, although only 0.024 seconds separated the trio of canoeists.
But on finals day, McKeever, who is training to become an accountant, was spurred on by a 30,000 strong capacity crowd and used the home advantage to power home.
A blistering start gave him an early lead and he was soon into a smooth paddling rhythm as he kept up the ruthless pace to hold off the chasing pack and take the gold, much to the delight of the cheering masses.
