Sally Pearson lived up to her star billing by taking the women's 100 meter hurdles gold medal in an Olympic record time of 12.35, edging defending champions Dawn Harper.
Australian Pearson, the overwhelming favorite coming into the race was given a tough fight by the American Harper, who took silver in 12.37. Harper's U.S. teammate Kellie Wells took bronze in 12.48, while another American Lolo Jones finished in fourth.
"I wouldn't have cared if I had run 14 seconds and won. I wanted that gold medal," the world champion said.
"I have been working for four years for that gold medal. It has been a dream of mine for 12 years, since I watched Cathy Freeman win her gold in Sydney."
Pearson ducked her head into the finish line, and waited with baited breath, looking up at the scoreboard to see if indeed she had finished first. Once the result was confirmed, the likeable 25-year-old squealed in delight, before emotions took over. "It was funny because I crossed the finish line and I was like 'I'm well clear of this'.
"Then I looked over and thought 'maybe I'm not'. I really did feel I had won that race, it was just a matter of having it confirmed on the scoreboard.
"You don't realise how special that is, to see your name at the number one spot."
In the men's 1500 meters, Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi, who was reinstated after being disqualified for not trying in the 800 meters Monday, claimed the gold medal in convincing fashion as he pulled clear down the home straight to win in 3:34.08.
Leonel Manzano of the U.S. won the silver medal with an impressive final burst in 3:47.79, while Moroccan Abdalaati Iguider took the bronze. Defending champion Asbel Kiprop of Kenya finished last, apparently troubled by an injury.
In the men's high jump Russia's Ivan Ukhov cruised to the gold medal, as the only man clearing 2.36 meters and 2.38 meters. "I kept jumping higher, but then at the 2.33 meter bar I could not find my T-shirt with my bib, and Andrey Silnov had to lend me his. I am grateful to the judges that gave me time to look for the T-shirt."
American Erik Kynard took silver with a 2.33 meter clearance, with the bronze shared between Briton Robbie Grabarz, Canadian Derek Drouin and Qatar's Mutaz Essa Barshim.
The discus gold medal went to Robert Harting of Germany, who entertained the crowd by taking off his shirt after victory and enjoying a lap of honour with German flag draped around him, before jumping over the barriers set out for the 100 meter hurdles, much to the fans' delight.
Harding won with a throw of 68.27 meters, with Iran's Ehsan Hadadi (68.18 meters) taking silver and Gerd Kanter (68.03) of Estonia winning bronze.
In the men's triathlon, Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee enthralled the home support with a comfortable victory for the gold medal in 1 hour, 46 minutes and 25 seconds, as younger brother Jonny Brownlee (1:46:56) took third for the bronze. Spain's Javier Gomez (1:46:36) was sandwiched between the two brothers in second place.