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The women's quadruple scull of Guin Batten, Gillian Lindsay, Katherine Grainger and Miriam Batten were also in deservedly jubilant mood after snatching a dramatic silver in a photo finish from Russia, after some lengthy deliberations by the jury.

They ultimately deemed the British quartet had edged home by a solitary hundredth of a second in 6:21.64 to the Russians' 6:21.65, giving the experienced Guin Batten a belated first major medal, after watching sister Miriam partner Lindsay to world championship gold two years ago.

"It was quite hard to contemplate that I was going to come to the end of my career without winning a medal," said the 33-year-old.

"It is very hard to strive to win all the time and never actually achieve that at the top level, so this is a very satisfying moment."

Miriam, the older of the two at 36, who was tempted out of retirement three years ago for a third tilt at an Olympic medal, was optimistic that the quartet's historic success will ensure there are others ready to take up the gauntlet in Athens and beyond.

"Hopefully we are pushing the frontiers out and giving other people hope that they can do it too," she added.