As Sholto Carnegie prepared for the five most important moments of his life, it was the memory of his late grandad which inspired him.

While he was born in England and has a French mother, it is his grandad, Ian, who gave Carnegie his Scottish nationality, which helped fuel him to Olympic gold.

And at the Stade Nautique in Vaires-sur-Marne, where Great Britain’s men’s eight were looking to bring down the curtain of a spectacular regatta, it was that Scottish heritage which got him in the zone.

Carnegie explained: “My grandad and my dad have always instilled that (his Scottish roots) in me. It’s something that’s really part of my identity.

“I lived in England but I have always felt that proud underdog mentality.

“It’s something that has really stayed with me.

“My mum actually gave me some Scottish music to listen to before the race to calm me down and focus this morning.

“It was ‘Will Ye Go Lassie Go’ and ’The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond’.

“We played that at my grandad’s funeral.

“It allowed me to channel my emotions and reminded me of everyone who sacrificed so much for me.”

Those emotions were still in stark evidence after Carnegie and co had seen off the Dutch by half a second to take gold.

Trailing by 0.12 seconds at 1000m, Great Britain then surged clear, holding on to upgrade the bronze medal they won three years ago in Tokyo.

Carnegie was in Japan, but as part of the men’s four – an all-conquering boat that missed the podium altogether after six successive gold medals.

He admitted that disappointment took a long time to get over, and had to work incredibly hard to make it back.

Still overcome with emotion, Carnegie said: “It’s unbelievable. I look down and still can’t believe I’m wearing this medal.

“You dream about it every day. You work so hard for it. When it comes you can’t let the thoughts off what it would mean to you cross your mind.

“I was in Tokyo. We were pushing for medals and came fourth. That really broke me down.

“It was really tough to come back from that.

“I had to dig really deep. My family, friends, everyone supported me so much to get back here rowing again. Now to win. I can’t believe it.”

It was a brilliant final session for the British rowers, with the gold in the men’s eight coming just 20 minutes after the women’s eight had taken bronze.

Among them was Glasgow’s Rowan McKellar, who had put everything on the line to get to this point.

Now 30 years old, McKellar was part of the women’s four in Tokyo that missed out on a place on the podium when they finished in fourth.

This time around, she had done everything possible to ensure that there was to be no repeat, so much so that McKellar was even out training on her wedding day over the winter.

Finishing behind Romania and Canada, all those hours of training made the difference, with a bronze medal making it all worthwhile.

She said: “It was worth it (the wedding day training). It’s been a really, really hard year but I think all of us have used it really well.

“It’s been my best winter’s training and I’m just really pleased. It played into my mind, how much we have put into this. I didn’t want to waste it on the day and I feel like we didn’t.

“It took until I was pretty old to believe this was going to happen. It wasn’t something overnight. I wasn’t particularly good as a junior so it’s been a really long road.

“From that little kid rowing around and coxing and just having a nice time on the river to this is just awesome. My parents, my siblings and their partners, my husband and his family and my nieces and nephews. I was trying to find them in the crowd and it’s so hard to see anyone, it’s so busy.”

Britain’s rowers make up over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support.

History was made in more ways than one on Saturday in Vaires-sur-Marne, with McKellar winning bronze alongside Emily Ford, while her brother Tom joined Carnegie in taking gold.

In doing so, they became the first brother and sister to win Olympic medals for Team GB since 1908, when William and Lottie Dod achieved the feat in archery.

And there was also a groundbreaking moment for women’s eight cox Henry Fieldman. He was the man overseeing the men’s eight four years ago in Tokyo, when they also won bronze.

That means that he becomes the first person in history to win an Olympic medal in a men’s and a women’s event.

With more than £30M a week raised for Good Causes, including vital funding into elite and grassroots sport, National Lottery players support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to live their dreams and make the nation proud, as well as providing more opportunities for people to take part in sport.  To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk