Chinese rowers suffered repeated disappointment through eight days of racing, but yesterday the women's quadruple scull team came roaring back in the last half of the country's last race to claim their first rowing gold.

After netting a lone silver the day before and two fifth place finishes earlier in the day, Tang Bin, Jin Ziwei, Xi Aihua and Zhang Yangyang carried the hopes of their team and country on their sturdy shoulders.

"In the Olympics you have to keep struggling, there is no rule that says who should win," Jin said.

After the first 1,000 metres, the crowd came alive and the Chinese seemed to pick up the pace down the stretch, beating the British team by more than a second and a half.

"I feel great, everything is great!" Jin shouted to Reuters.

The country and team had high expectations after years of intensive preparation and huge expense for the home Olympics.

The four Chinese women helped take some of the sting away for the rest of the team.

"Now we see our preparations were not enough," said Xu Dongxiang, a member of the fifth place women's double scull team.

"I haven't really thought much about London."

The men's double scull team also finished fifth yesterday. Both double scull teams had hopes of medals, but fell behind early and faded badly.

The Chinese rowers have developed rapidly after recruiting experienced foreign coaches and failing to win any medals in Athens four years ago.