Noah Lyles says he put everything on the line to earn his first-ever Olympic gold by winning the men's 100m sprint final on Sunday.
In a tightly contested race, there was a photo finish, with the American getting across the line in 9.79 seconds, just five-thousandths of a second in front of Jamaica's Kishane Thompson.
He walked away with a personal best, having successfully started his bid to win four golds at this year's Olympics.
All eight of the athletes finished within 0.12 seconds of Lyles' time, making it the closest 100m final since Moscow 1980, and the 27-year-old says he was prepared to find his edge in what he expected to be a tight race.
"You couldn't have asked for a bigger moment. A guy in biomechanics comes down, and before I came out here, he said it was going to be this much," Lyles told BBC Sport, holding up his hand to show a narrow gap behind his index finger and thumb, "that's how close it is going to be and gosh was he right.
"I had to take every round as it was, and I was a little upset after the first round, so I came with the aggression, and after I ran that 83, and I was done with the aggression. My sports therapist told me you need to let go, you're holding on. Let go and release it.
"I hope you guys like Noah because I got a lot more coming!"
In his post-race press conference, he also admitted he did not think he had actually managed to get across the line in front of Thompson.
"We were waiting for the names to pop up, and I'm going to be honest, I came over [to Thompson] and I was like: 'I think you got that one, big dawg!'" he said.
"Something said I need to lean, and I was like, 'I'm going to lean' because it's that type of race."
Thompson looking to be leading for much of the race and was caught up with Fred Kerley to his left, with the American taking bronze.
"I'm going to be disappointed, but I'm super happy and grateful at the same time," Thompson said. "I just got to take it as what it is and just move forward from here.
"I wasn't patient enough with my speed myself."