Amy Williams redefined the boundaries of Olympic courage here on Blackcomb Mountain.
But as she crossed the finish line at almost 90mph on her skeleton bob, she feared the gold medal she had dreamed about had turned to bronze.
;I didnt know how well Id done, the run was a complete blur from halfway down, she said.
;I went over the finish so fast, the only number I saw on the socreboard was three. I presumed Id come third.
She"s a Brit special: Amy Williams celebrates after winning gold
When she eventually stopped her skeleton, she was greeted by Andi Schmid, performance director of the British team. His smile told its own story and, as she unbuckled her crash helmet, he hugged her tightly.
;Where did I come? asked Williams, at last betraying a sign of nerves that had never been apparent as she snaked a path down the track where Georgian luger NodarKumaritashvili lost his life hours before the opening ceremony of these Winter Olympics.
Schmid kept hold of her as he answered simply: ;Youre Olympic champion!
At that moment, Williams was the happiest woman in Whistler. ;I didnt know what to do, she explained as the realisation dawned that she had won her Olympic title on the fastest, most daunting track ever built.
She caught sight of her mother, Jan, in the crowd with her father Ian, a professor of chemistry at Bath University. Mother and daughter exchanged a wave.
Remarkably, a day unlike any other in Williamss life was no cause for hysteria or fist-pumping.
Robin Cousins had been the last individual to deliver a gold medal for Britain at the Winter Games 30 years before, and no woman had won a solo Olympic title since Jeannette Altwegg claimed the figure skating championship in Oslo in 1952.
Williams had travelled through time, as well as down a mountainside at breakneck speed.
As she accepted a Union Flag from a spectator and wrapped it around her waist, Britain could have found no finer ambassador for an Olympic Games that had begunso tragically.
;Everyones prayers and thoughts go out to the dead mans family and his friends, andhis death was on everyones minds in the luge, skeleton and bobsleigh competitions, said Williams.
;I just had to tell myself that skeleton, while on the same track, is a different sport.
Magnificent: Williams on the way to skeleton gold
;I had a few more nerves than usual. At the start of the week, the speed did scare you, but with every run your reactions quicken up, so there is an illusion that it is slowingdown.
;Speed is your friend in this sport and youve got to work with it if you want to be quick. Youve got to feel the ice, learn a bit more with each run; even if you dont really knowwhere you are in each corner.
;Too many people were scared by this track and what happens then is that you become too tense and nervous and you become a plank on top of your sled, instead of moving with it. Some of the corners take the breath out of you as though you hadan elephant sitting on you.
Williams, 27, did not just defeat her rivals for Olympic gold, she devoured them with her speed, commitment and mind-management over four runs, spread over 24 hours.
One of the first to congratulate her was British team-mate Shelley Rudman, the silver medallist at the last Games in Turin.
Williams and Rudman are not, as the new Olympic champion admits, the best of friends. Rudman has been the focus of British media attention in Canada, a mother with a still-abiding appetite for speed and a fiance, Kristan Bromley, who was expected to give them both an edge with his mastery of skeleton technology.
But Rudman and Bromley both finished sixth,lost in the Olympic wastelands.
;I have full respect for Shelley, shes a brilliant athlete and it was nice she came and said well done, said Williams. ;But nothing will change between us. Thats fine, weget on and thats where we are. I am rivals with every single athlete; but, yes, I am friends with some and some I am not.
For support, Williams has leaned heavily on her boyfriend, Peter Narovec, a 32-year-old member of the Slovakia bobsleigh team.
;He was my healthy distraction between runs, she said. Narovec had joined her as she closeted herself in a small attic above the changing room where the skeleton rivals congregate before being called to the starting area.
"If I go over the track too many times in my mind, I get too worked up," she explained. "I ashed him if he would sit with me. He can talk for England; stupid things, irrelevant things, which is good because my brain wasn"t thinking what I had to do.
That"s my girl: Williams celebrates with her proud parents Ian and Jan
I didn"t want to see other people sitting around and getting nervous."
Is this a serious romance, we asked impertinently? "Yeah, it"s serious, said Williams, coyly rolling her powder-blue eyes. "We"ve been together for just over a year."
She had promised Narovec that she would watch him compete, but as she found herself in sudden demand, she said: "I don"t think I"m going to be able to support Peter after all."
Her diary these next few days will fill with new engagements, beginning with a ceremony at the main square where she will receive her gold medal.
;I just hope I dont cry and blubber, she said. Back home in Bath, twin sister Ruth and older brother Simon had already called to tell her of the late night party they had held in her honour at The Pulteney Arms.
;I think the whole street is there, said Williams. ;Theyve had T-shirts printed and my brother has been giving interviews.
When the Whistler track was designed, the Canadians acted within the rules, but perhaps outside the spirit of the Olympic Charter, by restricting access to competitors other than their own.
Melissa Hollingsworth had been widely expected to deliver another medal for thehost nation but, confronted by the raw pace of Williams from the first round, she melted to finish fifth.
Brit of all right: Shelley Rudman was one of the first to congratulate Williams
The new champions journey to the gold medal began when she went on a weeks ice camp arranged by the Army as an introduction to the skeleton event in 2002.
;Id just started university, doing a sports science degree, and paid 700 to be there, she said. ;I was petrified and remember crying at the bottom.
But she left the camp addicted to the sport, and in time she was ;discovered at the world push championships in Holland by Simon Timson, performance director ofthe British skeleton team at the time.
Timsons vision laid the plans for the success of Rudman and now Williams.
With Alex Coomber taking the bronze at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, British athletes have shown remarkable consistency for a country without a bobsleigh track of its own.
And Sir Steve Redgrave, Britains most decorated Olympic hero, stood beside theWhistler track and marvelled at Williamss performance.
;To win in Canada, in a sport the Canadians are expected to dominate is an astonishing triumph for Amy, said Redgrave. ;Shelley led the way four years ago with her silver, but a gold medal leaps above that by a long way.
Williams asked Redgrave: ;When does it sink in? Redgrave replied: ;It never does!
But he placed in context what Williams had achieved here when he said: ;Winning a world championship is something that lasts for a year. But you are an Olympicchampion for life.
The Canadians will have found a copy of the British National Anthem from a dusty archive to play in honour of Britains new Olympic champion.
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