London 2012: Day 11 - Brownlee brothers race to glory

Alistair Brownlee, 24, took gold and his brother Jonny, 22, won bronze despite being given a 15-second penalty.

As he closed in on victory Alistair grabbed a Union flag from the crowd, wrapped it around his shoulders and walked triumphantly across the finish line in Hyde Park.

He waited to embrace his brother who had to fight incredibly hard to overcome the penalty given for mounting his bike too quickly after swimming the Serpentine.

And there was further success in Weymouth as Nick Dempsey took silver in the men’s windsurfing.

Alistair Brownlee’s gold medal takes Britain’s tally to 19 - the same won in the 2008 Beijing Games, which were the country’s most successful for a century.

With five full days of competition left it seems certain that Team GB will beat its Beijing haul of 47 medals. The team now has 43 - 19 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze.

Britain’s best-ever Olympics were the London Games of 1908 when it claimed an unsurpassable 146 medals - 56 golds, 51 silvers and 39 bronze.

Britain had never won a triathlon medal before but Alistair Brownlee was favourite, having dominated triathlon over the last four years.

The two brothers were roared on by vast crowds around the course in central London, and also by hundreds of fans in their home city of Leeds.

The medal ceremony was delayed while Jonny Brownlee was treated in the medical room, having appeared to over-exert himself.

Alistair Brownlee admitted the victory felt underwhelming because “Jonny’s collapsed and is not feeling too well”.

He said: “He’s fine - triathlon is a tough sport.”

He praised the support of the “amazing” crowds, saying that his “ears were still ringing”.

Elsewhere, Phillips Idowu, the so-called “Invisible Man” of British athletics, crashed out of the triple jump.

The controversial 33-year-old Beijing silver medallist failed to jump far enough to qualify automatically for Thursday’s final.

Idowu, who is suffering from a trapped nerve and has been in dispute with British athletics bosses, only arrived at the Athletes’ Village on Sunday.

The fitness of the flamboyant jumper, known for his piercings and coloured hair, has been the focus of much speculation.

Idowu, from east London, said: “That wasn’t me out there today - I have competed for 12 years and I can’t remember a time when I have performed that badly.”

Meanwhile, Doncaster’s Barry Middleton and Sheffield’s Alastair Wilson helped Team GB hockey to a 1-1 draw with SPAIn that sees the host nation qualify for Thursday’s semi-final.

GB captain Middleton said: “We always make it fun for the crowd. We did it a different way today, we held on a little bit at the end.

“It was always going to be the way, with them desperate to score. They have good attackers, they’re a skilful team, it was always going to be hard work, but I think we held out brilliantly.

“We made it edgy, the umpire knew about it as well, both teams were getting at him, it shows how much we both wanted to win.”