Andy Murray described his rout of Roger Federer as the match he had been waiting for as he savoured becoming Britain's first Olympic gold medallist in men's singles for more than a century.
The 25-year-old tennis star returned to Centre Court four weeks after his heartbreaking loss to Federer in the Wimbledon final and turned the tables in spectacular fashion to win 6-2 6-1 6-4.
He said: "I have lost some tough matches and I've had a lot of questions asked about me many times. So I'm just glad that today I managed to put on a performance that I've been waiting for I guess in obviously a huge match for me."
From 2-2 in the opening set, Murray won nine games in a row and never wavered, sealing victory with two aces and handing Federer his worst ever loss at Wimbledon.
Afterwards Murray climbed up to the players' box to embrace his friends and family, who have helped him recover from the Wimbledon final and the three other grand slam final defeats that came before.
"It was a big match for Roger as well," Murray added. "I'm sure he would have wanted to win the gold. It's one of the few things in tennis he hasn't done in his singles career, so it was a big match for both of us.
"So just to win today in the way that I did makes those losses a bit easier to take.
"Just to keep coming back from them as well because it has been tough at times. But that's why getting to spend that moment after victory with the people around you that have seen all of those losses and how tough it's been makes it special."