Great Britain enjoyed a glorious weekend of success in Beijing, as they amassed a total of 17 medals, eight of which were gold, to force themselves up to third in the medal table.

The team have now won a total of 11 golds - two more than in Athens and the same number as Sydney in 2000 - and 25 medals overall. Team GB won four gold medals on Sunday alone and with the Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson starting the run in dreadful conditions in Qingdao.

Their bid for gold had been held up by a lack of wind yesterday, but there were no such problems today, and the British crew picked the perfect time to win for the only time in the event to secure the gold and ensure Holland had to settle for silver.

There was more sailing glory for Ben Ainslie, who won gold for the third Games running by winning the Finn class.

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The 31-year-old had started his race yesterday only for it to be abandoned because of a lack of wind, and needed just to see off the challenge of the USA's Zach Railey to claim gold. And he did so in style, winning the final race by 13 seconds to secure gold - and a place in the record books as Britain's most successful Olympic sailor.

Gold in the lightweight double sculls was the pick of three medals on the final day of the rowing regatta.

Zac Purchase and Mark Hunter - unbeaten all season - produced a superb race and were comfortable winners ahead of Greece.

They were followed on to the podium at Shunyi Park by the women's quadruple sculls, who won silver after being pegged back by China in the closing stages, and the men's eight who also finished second, beaten by Canada despite closing towards the end of the race.

The day's other gold went to cyclist Rebecca Romero, as she beat team-mate Wendy Houvenaghel in the women's individual pursuit.

Romero won by more than three seconds and went into the record books as the first British woman to win medals in two different Olympic sports, having won silver in rowing in Athens.

The final medal of the memorable weekend went to Louis Smith, who became Britain's first male individual gymnastics winner for 100 years by claiming bronze in the pommel horse.

Smith had qualified fifth but stepped up his performance for a superb medal to complete a superb haul for Britain over the weekend of 17 medals.