Leeds' Nicola Adams beat China's double world champion Ren Cancan 16-7 to be crowned the first ever Olympic women's boxing champion at ExCeL.
Adams decked Ren in the second round on her way to a stunningly comprehensive victory against an opponent who had beaten her in each of the previous two World Championship finals.
Adams made a superb start, producing much the cleaner work in the opening round, firing home a quick combination and a left hook and making it difficult for Ren to find her range as she bounced in and out of reach.
A beautiful straight left followed by a right hook towards the end of the round helped Adams into a deserved 4-2 lead, but it was far from over against the Chinese champion who stormed out for the second and landed a big right hand in a furious flurry of action.
Adams was completely unfazed, landing with a beautiful countering left, then a right as she bullied the Chinese fighter into the ropes and unleashed a left followed by a chopping right which dumped Ren to the canvas for a count.
It was a staggering round by Adams, who took a 9-4 lead into the second half of the contest, but will have known to stay on her guard against an opponent who has dominated at the top of her division for four years.
In a quieter third, Adams proved a master at keeping Ren out of range, darting in to score with crisp counters, and at the end of the third the gold medal was at her mercy after establishing a colossal 14-5 lead.
Utterly dominant, Adams continued to dominate the final round, dancing around the outskirts of the ring and landing counters seemingly at will, celebrating with an Ali shuffle in the final 10 seconds to round off a stunning win.
Adams told BBC1: "It's a dream come true. I've just wanted this all my life. To think I've finally done it, I'm finally here. All this support has really made my day."
On the knockdown, she added: "I didn't even see that coming. It's just was one of those things, it just happened.
"I'd like thank all the supporters here, all the supporters who've followed me.
"I've brought that gold medal back to Leeds.
"It's amazing. To have the flag lifted, I just can't wait. I'm just so happy and overwhelmed.
Update:
Hello, regular commenting on Orange News and Sport pages closes on Thursday 30 May 2013. We will continue to provide a commenting facility on major news and sport events on orangeworld.co.uk. Contact us via http://oran.ge/OWfeedback if you have any further questions. Thanks.
Mike Dale
5:47pm on 9/8/2012
What a lovely down to earth Leeds lass. Yorkshire must be above Aussies in the medals table now!?