Australian kayaker Ken Wallace says his success at the Beijing Games, where he won bronze in the K1 1000m and followed it up the next day with gold in the K1 500m, is just the start for him.
"It was my first Olympics and I'm rapt with the outcome," Wallace said on Sunday morning, the day after his gold-medal triumph.
"A couple of years ago I thought that 2012 would realistically be the one to go for, because our sport it seems that everybody's a bit older."
"It's just a sign of good things to come for me, hopefully."
The 25-year-old was clearly relishing his victory, but he also enjoys his sport.
"I just love competing, I love racing. I wouldn't do it if I wasn't having fun."
"I just love racing. I'll race you to the door," he added.
Wallace explained that there is a fraternity amongst the flatwater kayakers, which he believes is important because they spend so much time together.
"Adam (van Koeverden) is a tough competitor (but) all the K1 paddlers, we all seem to get along really well, off the water and on the water."
"At one point in time we've all trained together. This year in Hungary at one stage we had four people from the world championship A final all lined up and doing time trials together."
"Everyone's got that same goal, that same desire, to win an Olympic medal"
He said that good preparation was the key, and not just on the water.
"You train yourself for it. Through other competitions, that's where the hours and hours of training come into it, the kilometres you spend doing it, the gym sessions, everything."
"It's not just physically training. You have to mentally train yourself as well, for an event like this."
However that doesn't mean that he was ready for what unfolded in the 500-metre race, in which he found himself well behind Canadian Adam van Koeverden.
"This morning I watched glimpses of the 500m race and I didn't realise how far back I was. The guy was easily a boat-length in front of me."
"I knew I had to get a good start in that race, I knew it was going to be very close and you kind of get that tunnel vision in and all you're looking at is that finish line, and it doesn't seem to get any closer any faster but you're just hoping that you get there."
"I don't know where it came from; it's just that burning desire to want to win," he said of his remarkable charge to the finish line, overtaking van Koeverden.
And he explained that sometimes you don't know how hard you have just worked.
"For a second it probably hurt, but when you win gold everything just goes sort of numb, you don't really feel it."
"(People said) 'You went mental after the race', you were jumping up and down and I was in the water swimming, I was all over the place, but it doesn't hurt when you win a gold medal."
"The bronze hurt, but the gold certainly doesn't."