By Frank Malley, PA Chief Sports Writer, Sydney

The only thing missing was a rendition of 'Rule Britannia' after sailing's Ben Ainslie and Shirley Robertson had plundered double gold to leave Britain celebrating its most prodigious golden tally at an Olympics for 76 years.

Not since 1924 have Britain won more golds than the eight now garnered at these remarkable Games.

That was in Paris in the year Harold Abrahams won the 100 metres and became the inspiration for 'Chariots of Fire', but none of the nine golds gathered there could have seen hotter action than the afternoon of dramatic sailing in Rushcutters Bay on Friday.

There were collisions, suggestions of 'dirty tricks', penalty flags and protests as Ainslie adopted tactics described by his coach John Derbyshire as "ruthless and clinical".

But at the end of an astonishing day Britain, who had never before won a single-status title in an Olympic regatta, had turned Sydney Harbour a shimmering shade of gold. And there's more. With Iain Percy in a commanding 20-point lead in the Finn Class and Ian Walker and Mark Covell handily placed in second position in the Open Star category Britain could surge into golden figures tomorrow with an amazing 10 gold medals.

The gold rush began with Robertson clinging on courageously after a disastrous start to clinch victory in the Women's Europe Class by just two points. Then Ainslie took revenge for his silver in Atlanta by striking gold half an hour later in the Open Laser class by just one point after a tense and spectacular battle with Brazilian Robert Scheidt - the man who had denied him gold four years ago in Atlanta.

It was a sensational exhibition of sailing by Ainslie, whose tactics of blocking Scheidt at every turn rather than sailing to win the race were described by coach Derbyshire as "never having been seen before in the history of modern-day yachting".

Even so Ainslie had to wait more than four hours before his gold was confirmed following a series of protests - the main one concerning his collision with Scheidt.

In the end it was Scheidt who was disqualified and in the silver position while Ainslie was left to celebrate an unlikely victory over his toughest rival.

"We've had some great battles and win or lose I think we both have respect for each other," said Ainslie.

"Yeah, it was very close in Atlanta. Robert got the better of me in the last race there doing pretty much the same thing as today.

"So I guess it's a case of what goes around comes around. I'm just happy to be on the right side this time.

"It's a shame it came down to this. I would much rather have won with one race to spare or something and not had to do anything like this but that's yacht racing.

"It's always very close, especially when you're up against a competitor like Robert."

He admitted the effort expended to keep shadowing and baulking Scheidt had left him exhausted but added: "You don't really think about it during the race. I only realised how tired I was when I crossed the finishing line.

"I had a pretty good idea that I'd won gold but I didn't want to get too excited until the protests were over. I wasn't really too worried about the protests because I'd seen the video and I know the rules but when you go into the protest room it's 50-50."

Ainslie, a 23-year-old business studies graduate who was born in Macclesfield but lives in Lymington, also rejected any suggestions that his tactics were unacceptable gamesmanship.

"I expect he's pretty upset," he said. "But the only thing I could do was take his wind and force him on to bad angles.

"I was in the right and that's just the way it is. You have to use the rules sometimes. He did me in Atlanta and hats off to him. But it doesn't matter how much you win by. Four years ago I was naive and disappointed but then Robert was the better sailor. I know how he feels."

But if Scheidt was glum there was a sparkling smile on the face of Robertson after she had finally thrown off her tag as sailing's 'Nearly Woman' and won the big one.

Her victory ended a 12-year quest for an Olympic medal by the 32-year-old Scot, who finished agonisingly in fourth place in Atlanta.

She almost messed up again after finishing 16th in the day's first race before clinching third position behind closest rival, Margriet Matthysse of Holland, in the final race to secure gold.

"I had a really dreadful start and I was pleased to come back from that," said Robertson. "The points were really close and I had to be careful this afternoon.

"The conditions were difficult, the winds were gusting and I had to protect my position. It was a case of just keeping calm. It hasn't sunk in yet but this has been my childhood dream.

"Coming fourth in Atlanta was one of the worst times of my life. I remembered how I felt when I came back to Britain and it was a driving force for me. I decided it wasn't going to happen again."