It took nine years, but today Andrew Steele, Rob Tobin, Michael Bingham and Martyn Rooney officially became Olympic medallists.
The quartet were awarded their 4x400m relay bronze medal at the Anniversary Games and were greeted to a rousing reception from the home crown inside the London Stadium.
The team had finished fourth on the night at Beijing 2008, running a season’s best but finishing just behind the Russian four, who were subsequently banned for anti-doping offences.
The reallocation of the medal means all four Brits have now won their first Olympic medal and it takes Team GB’s Beijing 2008 tally to 48.
: “It was one of the fastest times ever not to win a medal and I remember coming off the track deflated. We knew at the time that we deserved to be on that podium, so nine years later to do it in front of a home crowd is a great substitute. It was a great experience and a great honour. I was quite emotional out there.
“Winning an Olympic medal is special. It’s bigger than anything that you would have won before so to celebrate with these guys is very special.”
“Nine years is a long time to wait but we’ve been patient. When I retired I did so quietly but to come back and collect this just caps off my whole career and it’s amazing knowing I get to share it with these guys.
“It was an awesome experience today but it’s bittersweet. But it’s great to see British athletes win and winning the right way – this is vindication for that.”
: “That night we were just drowned with emotion. It’s such a big occasion anyway when you run an Olympic final in front of 80,000 people but we left feeling slightly negatively despite outperforming ourselves on the night. We were quite upset afterwards but fast forward nine years and here we are, it’s an amazing turn of events.
“If I look back on my career I didn’t have anything significant to show for it so this is such an important thing for me. I retired from my career quite unsatisfied with what I achieved but this makes me feel so much better about what I did when I was running.”
“It feels very surreal to get this medal nine years on. Obviously, we would have liked to have got it on the night, but to do it today in front of the home crowd is something we’ll remember for the rest of our lives. We now have something that we can pass on down for generation to generation.”