Olympics: Anna's parents over the moon with rowing bronze
The hundreds of Brits among the 30,000 or so fans at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing Park had been hoping to cheer at least three British medal winners during Saturday's seven finals.
But by the time that Longsdon Olympian Anna Bebington took to the water in the fifth big race of the day we were still waiting to see Team GB reach the podium.
Mercifully, the stifling foggy haze of earlier in the week had lifted to reveal a stunning blue sky, with snow-capped mountains rising into the distance.
However the temperature guage showed that even at five o'clock in the afternoon local time, the flag-waving crowds in the open-topped stands were sweltering under the 30-degree heat of the sun.
Two kilometres away in the distance, the six boats on the starting line were dots on the horizon. The British fans had massed at the end of the course, near the finishing post. They roared as images of Anna and her partner Elise Laverick flashed up on the huge screen on the river bank opposite.
The noise even managed to drown out the singing of the Norwegian fans - all decked out in Viking helmets and capes - still celebrating an earlier success.
A clutch of former British Olympic rowing champions were in the crowd, among them Athens gold medallist Ed Coode. He reckoned it was crucial that the British pair had a good start.
"Anna and Elise are fine rowers - but they need to be aggressive right from the off," he said.
"It's not really their style. But they probably need to be more aggressive than they have ever been before.
"If they don't make a good start then it will be difficult for them to come back. When you're rowing backwards it's hard to catch up with opponents that you can't see!
"You can't win a race in the first 500 metres - but you can certainly lose it."
So when the big screen showed the GB boat in third place after the first quarter of the race, we knew that our Anna was in with a shout.
The New Zealand boat was out in front, with the Germans in second place. But there were only fractions of seconds between them, Britain and China.
The noise levels in our stand dropped at 1,000 metres as Anna and Elise momentarily went fourth. Then the pitch rose again when the British pair nudged second spot.
It was a fantastic race - easily the best of the day so far. Earlier disappointments were forgotten. This was what the British fans had travelled half way round the world to see.
The bikes of the rowing coaches who follow their crews on a tarmac track by the waterside, came into view. Fans were standing on their seats.
The boats were now directly in front of us - less than 20 yards away. The crowd screamed its support. There were Union flags everywhere. "C'mon Anna!"
For one ecstatic moment it looked like she was going to grab the silver medal. But the German boat manged to hang on.
The big screen showed that the British bronze medal-winning performance was only two tenths of a second behind that of the New Zealand boat which won gold.
It was Britain's first rowing medal of the Beijing Olympics. And former Westwood High School pupil Anna Bebington was one half of the crew that won it.
Anna's mum and dad Caroline and Richard were also waterside, cheering their daughter on. After the race, Caroline said: "She had a brilliant race. I knew Anna was on good form - and very, very focused.
"They had to work hard to keep up at the start. But they did it - and managed to hold something back for the end. At the finish it was so close.
"Now we're all proud. Very, very proud!"
Half an hour later, when Anna and Elise rowed by with their medals on a lap of honour, the crowd was celebrating the gold medal performance of the British men's fours boat.
The talk among the more knowledgable fans was that 25-year-old Anna could upgrade her bronze medal for a gold of her own, at London 2012.
So far she has been wary of committing herself to another four years of solid slog in the quest for Olympic gold.
But Ed Coode, who knows a thing or two about Olympic golds, believes she should seriously consider carrying on.
He said: "If she wants it enough, it's there for the taking."
"If you'd told us yesterday that we would have been in a position where we might have won a silver medal I would have laughed at you," said Bebington, reflecting on the close finish. "We're absolutely over the moon, it's amazing."
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