On the streets of Paris, Alex Yee fell 14 seconds behind New Zealand's Hayden Wilde in the men's triathlon as the bell rang out to signal the last lap in the 10km run.
It looked at that stage as if Yee would have to settle for a second successive Olympic silver medal in the men's individual competition - but the 26-year-old from Lewisham saved enough energy for a sprint finish.
With just a few corners to go, Yee strode past Wilde and towards a truly remarkable - and delayed - triumph.
Nevertheless, it was well worth the wait following a 24-hour postponement of the men's event being caused by the water quality in the River Seine not meeting the required standards for the swimming leg.
Now, if that was not enough drama for one morning, the Stade Nautique in Vaires-sur-Marne was the source of a second astonishing Team GB comeback, barely quarter of an hour after Yee crossed the line.
Trailing the Netherlands boat for all except the last few metres of the 2000m course in the women's quadruple sculls, the British boat was a half-length behind with just 200m to go.
However, as the race reached the red buoys marking the last 100m, the quartet of Lauren Henry, Lola Anderson, Georgina Brayshaw and Hannah Scott began their surge.
As the finish line approached, inside the last 5m, the boats were effectively level but making alternative strokes - and the contest concluded in a photo finish.
Incredibly, it showed the final British stroke towards the line was decisive - and confirmed a sixth gold for a Team GB squad which has won medals on every day of the Games so far.
The very first arrived before 11am on Day One as Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen won bronze in the women's 3m springboard diving.
Indeed, diving has again been a fruitful source of medals for Team GB at these Olympics with First Dates maître d' Fred Sirieux watching on as his daughter Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix took bronze in the women's 10m platform alongside Lois Toulson.
Between the women's two synchronised medals, Tom Daley secured an emotional fifth medal in five Olympic appearances with a silver after a stunning performance alongside Noah Williams in the men's 10m platform.
Adam Peaty, Anna Henderson and Leam Lane's very own Kieran Reilly also all took silver medals in the men's 100m freestyle breaststroke swimming, the women's road time trial cycling and the men's BMX freestyle finals respectively.
Meanwhile, the award of the biggest prize has hardly been a rare occurrence.
Following an admittedly quiet opening weekend, the first gold medal was not long in coming, having been nicely set up by the three-day eventing team in the equestrian.
Rosalind Canter, Laura Collett and Tom McEwen carried it home to defend the team title on Lordship Graffalo, London 52 and JL Dublin - and, having helped break Team GB's duck, Collett later added a bronze in the individual event.
In the meantime, Tom Pidcock produced a comeback to rank alongside Yee in the triathlon and the women's quadruple sculls in the rowing.
Favourite Pidcock hit the front early on but then suffered a puncture on the fourth lap which appeared to have devastated his race as he resumed in ninth, 36 seconds down on French leader Victor Koretzky.
The 25-year-old from Leeds did not panic, reeling in his opponents one-by-one, and regaining the lead towards the start of the final lap of the 4.4km course.
Roared on by the home crowd, however, Koretzky overtook Pidcock - and so it all came down to the final few metres.
In a wooded section of the course, Pidcock snatched back the lead with just a few corners to go, smashing his way past Koretzky in a dramatic conclusion in which there was contact between the two bikes.
Later, Adam Burgess took silver in the men's canoeing slalom behind a pretty much perfect performance by France's Nicolas Gestin.
Then, on a medal-laden Day Three, Matt Richards also took silver in the men's 200m freestyle swimming despite starting from an outside lane following a poor semi final performance.
By contrast, on a quiet Day Four at the Olympics, there were only two medals - although both of them were gold.
First, in the mid-afternoon, Nathan Hales proved to be a really sharp-shooter by hitting 48 out of 50 targets in the men's trap shooting final to set a new Olympic record.
Then, in the evening in the swimming, the highly-fancied men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay team - James Guy, Tom Dean, Matt Richards, and Duncan Scott - dominated to become the first quartet of the same men to defend an Olympic title in the event.
Altogether, at the close of Day Five, Team GB had won six gold medals, six silver medals and five bronze for a total of 17 - and that compared favourably with the figures at the same stage of previous Games.
At London 2012, Great Britain had won two gold medals and nine in total - while, at Rio 2016, those tallies were three and 12 respectively.
Most recently, at Tokyo 2020+1, Team GB had won five gold medals and 16 in total by the end of Day Five - although different Games have slightly different sports and schedules.
For example, organisers pushed forward the Rugby Sevens in the hope that the decision of Les Bleus' usual XV captain Antoine Dupont to skip the Six Nations for the Olympics would pay off.
It was a huge all-round risk but it paid dividends as France beat Fiji in the men's final at a packed Stade de France to get their Games off to a flier, albeit a somewhat manufactured one.
Still, though, the swimming schedule is almost always in the first week with track-and-field athletics waiting until the second half of the jamboree - and, in the pool, the French have genuinely produced a new Olympic legend.
Leon Marchand followed up his breathtaking performance in the men's 400m individual medley on Day Two by winning both the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke in the space of 20 minutes on Day Five.
Elsewhere, the host nation has also won gold medals in canoeing, fencing and the women's triathlon event through Cassandre Beaugrand, as well as other medals in archery, equestrian and judo.
France even briefly sat top of the medal table after Marchand's performances - before Pan Zhanle broke the world record in men's 100m freestyle final to send China back to the summit.
Nevertheless, both France and Great Britain can be extremely satisfied with their efforts so far in these Games - and there is still plenty more to come.
| Pos | Updated 01/08/2024 22:45 | G | S | B | TOTAL |
| 1 | CHINA (CHN) | 11 | 7 | 6 | 24 |
| 2 | UNITED STATES (USA) | 9 | 15 | 13 | 37 |
| 3 | FRANCE (FRA) | 8 | 11 | 8 | 27 |
| 4 | AUSTRALIA (AUS) | 8 | 6 | 4 | 18 |
| 5 | JAPAN (JPN) | 8 | 3 | 5 | 16 |
| 6 | GREAT BRITAIN & NI (GBR) | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 |
| 7 | SOUTH KOREA (KOR) | 6 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| 8 | ITALY (ITA) | 5 | 7 | 4 | 16 |
| 9 | CANADA (CAN) | 3 | 2 | 3 | 8 |
| 10 | GERMANY (GER) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 10 | NETHERLANDS (NED) | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 |
| 12 | NEW ZEALAND (NZL) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 13 | ROMANIA (ROU) | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 14 | HONG KONG (HKG) | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| 15 | AZERBAIJAN (AZE) | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 16 | HUNGARY (HUN) | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 17 | GEORGIA (GEO) | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 18 | SOUTH AFRICA (RSA) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 18 | SWEDEN (SWE) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 20 | BELGIUM (BEL) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 20 | IRELAND (IRL) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 20 | KAZAKHSTAN (KAZ) | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| 23 | CROATIA (CRO) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 23 | GUATEMALA (GUA) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 23 | UZBEKISTAN (UZB) | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| 26 | ARGENTINA (ARG) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | ECUADOR (ECU) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | SERBIA (SRB) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 26 | SLOVENIA (SLO) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | BRAZIL (BRA) | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 31 | NORTH KOREA (PRK) | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 32 | SPAIN (ESP) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 33 | POLAND (POL) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 33 | SWITZERLAND (SUI) | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 35 | GREECE (GRE) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 | ISRAEL (ISR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 | KOSOVO (KOS) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 | MEXICO (MEX) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 | TURKEY (TUR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 35 | UKRAINE (UKR) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 41 | FIJI (FIJ) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 | MONGOLIA (MNG) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 41 | TUNISIA (TUN) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 44 | INDIA (IND) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 45 | MOLDOVA (MDA) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 46 | AUSTRIA (AUT) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 46 | EGYPT (EGY) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 46 | SLOVAKIA (SVK) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 46 | TAJIKSTAN (TJK) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
TEAM GB
| GOLD | |||||
| 1 | 29-Jul | Rosalind Canter (Lordships Graffalo) Laura Collett (London 52) Tom McEwen (JL Dublin) | Equestrian | Team eventing | |
| 2 | 29-Jul | Tom Pidcock | Cycling | Men's mountain bike cross-country | |
| 3 | 30-Jul | Nathan Hales | Shooting | Men's trap | |
| 4 | 30-Jul | Matt Richards Duncan Scott Tom Dean James Guy Kieran Bird James McMillan | Swimming | Men's 4 x 200m freestyle relay | |
| 5 | 31-Jul | Alex Yee | Triathlon | Men's event | |
| 6 | 31-Jul | Lauren Henry Hannah Scott Lola Anderson Georgie Brayshaw | Rowing | Women's quadruple sculls |
| SILVER | |||||
| 1 | 27-Jul | Anna Henderson | Cycling | Women's road time trial | |
| 2 | 28-Jul | Adam Peaty | Swimming | Men's 100m breaststroke | |
| 3 | 29-Jul | Tom Daley Noah Williams | Diving | Men's synchronised 10m platform | |
| 4 | 29-Jul | Adam Burgess | Canoeing | Men's C-1 canoe slalom | |
| 5 | 29-Jul | Matt Richards | Swimming | Men's 200m freestyle | |
| 6 | 31-Jul | Kieran Reilly | Cycling | Men's BMX freestyle | |
| 7 | 01-Aug | Helen Glover Esme Booth Sam Redgrave Rebecca Shorten | Rowing | Women's four |
| BRONZE | |||||
| 1 | 27-Jul | Yasmin Harper Scarlett Mew Jensen | Diving | Women's synchronised 3m springboard | |
| 2 | 28-Jul | Kimberley Woods | Canoeing | Women's K-1 canoe slalom | |
| 3 | 29-Jul | Laura Collett (London 52) | Equestrian | Individual eventing | |
| 4 | 31-Jul | Beth Potter | Triathlon | Women's event | |
| 5 | 31-Jul | Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix Lois Toulson | Diving | Women's synchronised 10m platform | |
| 6 | 01-Aug | Becky Wilde Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne | Rowing | Women's double sculls | |
| 7 | 01-Aug | Oli Wilkes David Ambler Matt Aldridge Freddie Davidson | Rowing | Men's four |
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