Great Britain's fourth gold won by sailors Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson in a thrilling climax to the Star class event in Qingdao. Percy and Simpson started the medal race in second place and had to fight tooth and claw with Sweden before getting to the line just ahead of them.
The gold provided the perfect finish to Britain's most successful ever regatta.
Brazil's Robert Scheidt and Bruno Prada took silver, and Sweden's Fredrik Loof and Anders Ekstrom claimed the bronze.
Britain finished on 45 points, eight in front of the Brazilians and Swedes. The South Americans took silver by virtue of their better result in the medal race.
Percy and Simpson added another gold medal to Britain's tally in Qingdao, following in the wake of Ben Ainslie, Paul Goodison and the Yngling crew of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson.
"It's unbelievable and it's so special to do it with this fella (Simpson)," said Percy, after claiming the second Olympic gold of his career.
"I knew we weren't going to bottle it, and we didn't."
Simpson, who took gold in his first ever Olympics, added: "I'm just shocked. To do this after this week and this year we've had is unbelievable.
"There are no words to describe how happy we are.
"Since last year, everything focused on this week. We've worked really hard for the last 12 months.
"We had to pull it back from the brink. It was a tough race and we just did enough."
Britain eventually finished fifth in the medal race, behind race winners Poland, but the crucial factor was that they finished ahead of Sweden.
The two boats were neck-and-neck for much of the race but Percy and Simpson, who started the race two points behind Sweden, did just enough to keep their noses in front as the pressure increased in the closing stages.
FYI - Behind Sports
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