London 2012 Olympics: Ed McKeever wins Olympic gold in kayak sprint

• Ed McKeever wins 200m kayak sprint gold

• Jon Schofield and Liam Heath won bronze in K2 200m event

There was also bronze medal success for the two-man crew of Jon Schofield and Liam Heath.

McKeever, 28, from Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, led from the start in his race, crossing the line ahead of Spain’s Saul Craviotto Rivero and Canada’s Mark de Jonge.

Schofield and Heath, both 27, were just behind the gold-winning Russian pair of Yury Postrigay and Alexander Dyachenko for much of their K2 race 200m contest, and then lost out at the finish to the Belarus crew of Raman Piatrushenka and Vadzim Makhneu in the race for silver.

In the women’s K1 200m, Jess Walker, 22, from Hampton Hill, London, made the final but finished in seventh place.

The race was won by New Zealand’s young kayaker, 23-year-old Lisa Carrington. The men’s 200m canoe sprint was won by Ukraine’s Yuri Cheban.

Today’s results take Britain’s medal haul in canoeing to four, achieving their pre-Games target. The medals come after Etienne Stott and Tim Baillie won gold in the canoe slalom last week, while David Florence and Richard Hounslow took silver in the same event.

McKeever’s time of 36.346 seconds was slightly slower than yesterday’s heats and semi-finals as he battled against a headwind.

Speaking to the BBC before the medal ceremony, he said he woke up this morning at 5am “like a kid at Christmas wanting to open my presents”.

“I am going to get that present in a minute.

“I was really just focused on the first two or three strokes and I wanted to nail those and get out cleanly.”

Asked later how he felt about being dubbed the “Usain Bolt of the water”, McKeever added: “Luckily I have the gold medal to go with it now. I am more willing of that tagline.”

He continued: “I am just so pleased that I could do well. I was really buzzing, in the zone and wanting to do well.”

He admitted he thought he might struggle with the headwind, adding: “Because I am one of the lighter guys I am more affected by the wind.

“I was kind of out clean (off the start line) and just held on. I am just so happy. I am just so happy that I can contribute to the medals table. I haven’t actually seen many other sports. It’s literally been canoeing, canoeing, canoeing.”

McKeever sang the national anthem as he received his medal in front of 30,000 spectators packed into the grandstands.

He continued: “It has been quite frustrating in some aspects not being able to go out late and socialise because you are concentrating on racing. But I will have a little bit of time off now.