WHEN Matthew Langridge waited on the start line in Rio on Saturday, he knew it was for the last time.

To realise an ambition to become Olympic champion, more than a decade after his first attempt as a 21-year-old in Athens, he needed to deliver.

Little more than five minutes later, he had done.

After leading from the front in a show of dominance, the Northwich rower and the rest of Team GB’s men’s eight crossed the finish line well clear of closest rivals Germany.

In London, four years earlier, the British boat – after a similarly swift start – had been overtaken during a sprint to the line.

But not in Brazil.

“I knew we’d win from the first stroke,” said Langridge.

He received a bronze medal after that race in 2012, adding to a silver one he brought back from Beijing.

That too was part of an eight.

So acute was the agony at missing out in front of a home crowd, he considered quitting a sport he tried for the first time at Northwich Rowing Club while at high school.

“That final 400m at London haunted me,” he said.

“So there was no way it was getting away this time.

“It’s been a long time coming, but now I can say it’s been worth that wait.”

The timing was perfect.

A British men’s eight most recently claimed an Olympic title in 2000, while the latest line-up had not won a final this season before arriving in Rio.

Of the five boats alongside them on the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, four – Germany, Netherlands, USA and New Zealand – had beaten them earlier in 2016.

Before boarding a plane bound for Brazil, Langridge declared none of that mattered.

“The best bit of advice I’ve had is to be better than the opposition on the day,” he told the Guardian.

“It’s not important to be perfect.”

As it happens, his crew got pretty close.

Convincing winners in the opening heat on Monday, they led the final from start to finish.

Their advantage was more than half a boat-length after 500m, a gap they maintained until halfway.

Germany, as expected, tried desperately to respond – the Dutch too – but they could not catch Langridge and his crewmates.

Northwich Guardian:

Team GB's men's eight celebrate after crossing the finish line at the end of Saturday's final at the Olympic Games regatta in Rio. Picture: Peter Spurrier/Intersport Images

He said: “It wasn’t our perfect row, but we knew we had the speed.

“We knew what we had to do, and were really confident.

“There is so much belief and hunger in this boat.”

Those are traits that Langridge, the first Briton to win in a single scull at the world junior championships in 2001, has in abundance.

His deserved reward is a third medal from an Olympic regatta, and a place in history as the first athlete from his home-town to win a gold one.

He is also believed to be the only British rower to have a collection that contains all three colours.

“It’s a bit surreal, I can finally say I’m an Olympic champion,” he said during an interview shortly after punching the air with delight.

“It’s always been about winning for me, and this is third time lucky.

“I can’t wait to get on the podium.”

When he did, bathed in Rio sunshine in front of a packed grandstand, he waved into the closest television camera.

Looking straight back at him, towards a screen mounted on the wall, those gathered in a packed boathouse next to the River Weaver roared their approval.

They had waited patiently, like he had, for this moment.

It may have been his last race, but it’s one they – and most of all he – will never forget.