Russia emphatically captured the rhythmic gymnastics gold at the London Olympics on Sunday, finishing well clear of Belarus, who claimed silver.
The Russians won with a total score of 57.000 awarded 28.300 for their spectacular final performance with ribbons and hoops.
"We are simply very happy. We are over the moon," Russia team member Uliana Donskova said.
"We believed in our victory, but we didn't allow ourselves to relax. We didn't think about the medal. We had big support and there was no pressure on us."
Belarus finished second with a total of 55.500 points after scoring 27.675 on the final rotation, enough to leapfrog Italy and take the silver.
Italy were awarded 27.325 in the final for a total of 55.450.
Belarus team member Kseniya Sankevich shed some light on the dog-eat-dog spirit of the competition.
"I know it's probably not appropriate but when I saw [Italy] made a mistake I thought, 'This is our chance'," she said.
Russia won both gold medals in the rhythmic gymnastics after Beijing gold medalist Evgenia Kanaeva defended her Olympic title in the individual all-around category on Saturday with four exquisite performances.
