AN emotional James Guy reflected on a 'dream come true' as he finally got his hands on an Olympic gold medal after helping Great Britain to victory in the men’s 4×200 metres freestyle relay final.

For the former Cardinal Newman High School student, it follows two silvers in relays in Rio in 2016.

Following his triumph in the individual event the previous day, Guy's teammate and training partner Tom Dean became the first British male swimmer to win more than one gold medal at a single Games since 1908, but this was a team effort at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

Dean started solidly if unspectacularly, perhaps feeling the exertions of his recent endeavours, and it was Guy who got Team GB into the lead at halfway before Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott closed the show in style.

The time of six minutes and 58.58 seconds set a new European benchmark and was just three hundredths of a second behind the world record still held by a Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte inspired United States 12 years ago.

It was a special moment for Guy, who was fourth in the individual event in Rio. Having finally scaled the mountain, he was in tears by the time Scott touched the wall three seconds clear of his nearest rival.

“It’s a dream come true,” said Guy, who was crying in the stands the day before after watching Dean become Britain’s first Olympic male champion in an individual freestyle event in more than a century.

“Being a young lad I was dreaming of Olympic gold, that’s all I’ve ever wanted in my life is to get that and now I’ve done it. It just shows if you’ve got a plan, you work hard, when you believe in yourself it can happen.

Warrington Guardian:

When the Warrington Guardian cameraman visited James Guy's Stockton Heath home in 2007 to mark the 11-year-old's Warrington Sports Personality Award entry

“All the early mornings, all the years of getting up at 10 past four, we’re here and it’s finally nice to do it.

“Hurting me most was getting fourth in Rio and obviously Tom getting gold yesterday, my training partner, I felt like I was swimming with him, that’s why I was so emotional. For him to do that is a dream come true for me.”

Dean’s time turned out to be the slowest of the quartet but Britain still sat third and after Guy and then 18-year-old Richards helped Britain into a one-second lead, Scott put in a sensational split of 1min 43.45secs.

Scott was runner-up to Dean the day before in a historic one-two finish but the Glaswegian’s effort this morning made sure Britain scooped their third swimming gold at an Olympics for the first time in 113 years.

Dean, who revealed he has had coronavirus twice inside the past year, said: “It feels pretty special. Double Olympic champion sounds pretty good. The last 24 hours have been unreal, a complete whirlwind.

“This was our best, best, best case scenario. The way Jimmy and I have been training in Bath and the times he’s been dropping, I’ve never had a shadow of doubt in my mind and it came together like we knew it would.”