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Hunter, left, with Purchase
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Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase won Great Britain's second rowing gold medal at the Beijing Olympics with victory in the lightweight men's double sculls.
The duo came into the race as favourites following an unbeaten World Cup campaign and commanding performances in the heats and semi-finals.
And they lived up to their billing, beating world silver medallists Greece by half a length, with world champions Denmark third.
Purchase set a fierce tempo from the outset and the duo looked set for a comfortable victory after a strong middle 1000m that took them over a length to the good.
But the Greeks were always expected to mount a strong challenge and were eating into the British lead in the final 250, but in truth the gold medal was always in the grasp of Purchase and Hunter.
The latter, who was unable to stand for several minutes after the race such was his state of exhaustion, admitted: "I just kept pounding away. I was in a dark place but there was just so much belief and that was what kept us going.
"When we crossed the line I knew we had won it. Zac went ballistic. I didn't really know where I was.
"I started in the double in 2005, Zac came along last year and made us stronger and that is what won it for us today - we are the two best guys in the world in a double."
