Rio 2016: 'That was our best row ever,' says Britain's rowing foursome after powering to gold

And so the remarkable story goes on, four men in a boat who have forgotten what it is like to lose an Olympic final. The men’s coxless four have bossed this show since Sir Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent cracked the whip back in Sydney 2000 and were never less than imperious in this rowing paradise of Estacio da Lagoa.

It was a commendable effort by Australia and Italy, the crews who finished second and third, to keep going until the end since it was clear that any show of defiance by them would meet with an immediate response from Constantine Louloudis, Alex Gregory, George Nash and Mohamed Sbihi.

Though Sbihi sets the tempo in the boat it is the Oxford blue they call Stan, though never in front of his mother, a lady in waiting to Princess Anne, who Sir Steve Redgrave believes capable of continuing his legacy.

Louloudis is in fact the tiddler in this boat despite standing 6ft 3ins and weighing 90 kilos. It is his freakish aerobic capacity that marks him out as the beast of the group, and he spent every ounce of it in pulling to a first Olympic gold.

While the rest of the crew made their way along the jetty to receive the acclaim of family and friends Louloudis lay flat on his back, his chest heaving as his lungs worked overtime to bring back to life his shattered body.

This rowing business might look easy but beneath those triumphant British vests there is fire raging, and the weight of history was making its presence felt, “There’s no question that weighed on us,” Louloudis said. “I know it weighed on me personally. Team GB has won this event for the last four Olympics, now five. That was not a run we wanted to break.

“We are the top ranked men’s boat in perhaps the top rowing nation in the world. It was on us to win it. We had to do that. Having never really felt a sense of duty to country before, I really felt it that time. I was like: ‘I think the public wants gold medals and we are in a position to give them one.

“That was our best row ever, definitely our best race. Mo makes the calls and when he speaks, we go. At a 1k we had control but we had a gear, we hadn’t shot our bolt. He made the call at 1500, and it came and came and came. It was so composed.

“That’s not easy to do when you have to sum up four years in six minutes. There are a lot of nerves on that startline. Sitting in front of those guys when they are backing you up…it’s not easy out there, but they made it as easy as it possibly have been.”

And how does it feel to have gold around your neck? “Bastard heavy,” said Stan.