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Singapore's women table tennis players finished their Beijing adventure as runners-up to the world's most formidable team from China.
Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Feng Tianwei were all smiles at the end of their 92-minute battle. They lost 3-0, but this proved the longest game the Chinese champions had fought in the tournament.
All around them, from team officials to Singaporeans in the stands of the Peking University Gymnasium, there were only proud faces, Singapore flags raised high, and loud cheers.
Poignantly, it was Mr Ng Ser Miang, the International Olympic Committee executive board member from Singapore, who presented the medals to the silver medallists and gave each of them a hug of congratulations.
He said afterwards: 'At the Athens Games, Jiawei came so close to winning a medal. Winning it now makes today's medal all the sweeter.'
Beijing-born Li said: 'I am very excited to win the silver medal. It is my way of repaying Singapore for having confidence in me and grooming me all these years.
'I'm really happy and feel like crying.'
She had wept after last Friday's epic 3-2 semi-final win over South Korea. That battle lasted almost four hours and earned the Singapore trio their date with China last night.
But beating world champions China in front of 5,000 boisterous fans - including Chinese President Hu Jintao - was always going to be a tall order.
Not to mention that Singapore had not beaten China in the team event in two previous encounters, losing 0-3 and 1-3 in the Asian and World Championships.
Feng Tianwei, the heroine in the battle against South Korea, gave Singapore an unexpected lead, taking the first game 11-9 against 2000 Olympic singles champion Wang Nan.
But that was about the closest Singapore came to winning on a night when China showed why they are the undisputed champions of the game.
Cheered on by the flag-waving home crowd, Wang recovered to win 11-3, 11-8, 11-6 and take the first game.
Li, who had suffered a heartbreaking bronze-medal loss at the 2004 Athens Olympics, also took the first game against world No. 1 Zhang Yining.
But after the 9-11 loss, Zhang - a former teammate of Li's at Beijing Shichahai Sports School in the 1990s - stormed back 11-3, 11-4, 11-7.
Two games up and with the atmosphere becoming almost carnival-like in the arena, it was left to Zhang and world No. 2 Guo Yue to seal China's victory.
They made light work of Singapore's Li and Wang Yuegu, winning 11-8, 11-5, 11-6.
Wang Nan confessed afterwards that nerves had affected her performance.
She said: 'As table tennis is China's national sport, everyone expects China to win the gold. I was very nervous, but as soon as I got involved in the match, I shook off the nerves.'
Singapore had expected Feng to face Zhang in the opener and then for Li to take on Wang Nan in the second game.
Both Feng and Li had beaten Zhang and Wang Nan respectively in matches earlier this year.
But a tweak to China's usual line-up wrecked Singapore's plans.
Still, Singapore coach Liu Guodong maintained that his team played to their best, and went as far as to rate them 100/100.
'It's impossible to beat China. We prepared for the other teams. We met opponents that we did not want to meet, like South Korea, but we managed to beat them,' he said.
'China are the best, but among all the other countries, we are the best.
'Our mission was to deliver a medal and we won the silver. We can be very proud of that.'
The pocket of Singapore fans at the final yesterday agreed.
Said 29-year-old Neo Yong Aik, a Singaporean working in Beijing who was there with two friends: 'It would have been nice if they had won, but just being here today is special.
'To see the Singapore flag being raised at the Olympics, it is truly historic.'
Singapore National Olympic Committee president and Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean called the team's effort 'tremendous'.
President S R Nathan, who is in Henan, sent his congratulations too, saying: 'In the finals, our team met a formidable team with a world reputation; they did their best and therefore have no reason to be disheartened.
'In my eyes, they remain proud.'
