(UPDATES with quotes)
World champion pair Nathan Cohen and Joseph Sullivan of New Zealand timed a final burst to perfection to take rowing gold in the heavyweight double sculls on Thursday.
Cohen and Sullivan drove past Slovenia's Luka Spik and Iztok Cop in the last 200 meters to claim gold in 6 minutes, 31.67 seconds.
Asked about his emotions, Cohen said: "Disbelief really. I thought that we were capable of doing it but still, unbelievable."
And on the sprint to the line: "It wasn't pretty, but we held on."
Italian duo Alessio Sartori and Romano Battisti raced past the beleaguered Slovenians to snatch silver in 6:32.86, by half a second.
"I am very happy because I was out of the national team and started in a club boat and then won national and international competitions this year and qualified in Lucerne [at the final Olympic qualification regatta]," Sartori said.
"At this race we put our best in the second 1,000 meters."
Slovenia took bronze by one hundredth of a second from Argentina.
"I'm pissed off because I think the lanes six and five were better today," Spik said. "It was too hard, the wind was too heavy on our side."
