By Ian Gordon, PA Sport, Sydney

HITS

Coxless Four (Rowing)

Steve Redgrave, Britain's master oarsman, rowed into the record books in Sydney by winning an unprecedented fifth successive Games gold in an endurance event.

Redgrave had a little help, of course, from his coxless four team-mates Matthew Pinsent - winning gold for the third Games in a row - James Cracknell and Tim Foster though the Italian's almost wrecked Redgrave's dream as they were just edged out in a thrilling finale.

Jason Queally (Cycling)

The Olympics were only into their first day when the Chorley cyclist charged to victory in the 1km time-trial to win Britain's first gold of the Games.

Queally was back at the Dunc Gray Velodrome the following night with his Olympic Sprint team-mates, Chris Hoy and Craig MacLean, to win silver and become Britain's most successful Olympian in a single Games since Seb Coe in 1984.

Ben Ainslie (Sailing)

The waters at Rushcutters Bay was the setting for Britain's sail of the century as they weighed in with three golds and two silver medals, the best by any sport at the Games.

Ainslie's victory in the Laser class brought him sweet revenge as he did to Robert Scheidt what the Brazilian had done to him in Atlanta, forcing his rival to the back of the fleet to win by just one point.

Kelly Holmes (Athletics)

Kelly Holmes may not have won the gold but her bronze medal winning run in the 800 metres was the performance of the Games by a British athlete in the Olympic Stadium.

Holmes, a former Army physical training instructor who was told twice by specialists to quit running after a career bedevilled by injury, showed her fighting spirit to finish third and also reached the 1500m final.

Richard Faulds (Shooting)

Farmer's son Richard Faulds kept his nerve in a tense shoot-out with local hero Russell Mark to bag the gold in the Double Trap.

Faulds, who had finished fifth in Atlanta as a 19-year-old, won by just one point from the Australian who had broken the Olympic record in the qualifying event.

MISSES

Simon Lessing (Triathlon)

Simon Lessing was expected to win Britain's first gold of the 2000 Games on the second day as triathlon made its debut as an official Olympic sport amid the spectacular setting of the Sydney Opera House.

But Lessing, the South African-born multiple world champion, finished back in eighth place after being well-placed following the swim when, despite fears, there were no shark attacks.

Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski (Tennis)

Britain's top two tennis players failed miserably as they followed each other out in the first round in the space of a few hours.

Henman headed off for an Australian holiday with wife, Lucy, after he lost in straight sets to Slovakia's Karol Kucera while Rusedski's Games lasted less than an hour as he was beaten by France's Arnaud Clement.

4x100m relay (Athletics)

Britain's hopes of toppling the Americans from their throne as the kings of the sprint relay bit the dust as they crashed out in the first round.

The young guns were confident after getting two men to the final of sprints but 200m silver medallist Darren Campbell was missing as the quartet messed up and threw away a certain medal.

Swimmers

Britain's swimmers sunk without trace at the International Aquatic Centre as they failed to pick up a medal for the first time since the 1936 Games in Berlin.

While world records were being broken with abandon in the super-fast pool, just two individual British records were set. Only four men made it into a final and Alison Sheppard was the sole female representative.