SCHINIAS, Greece - Britain’s greatest active rower was too choked up to join in while the rest of his teammates and hundreds of exuberant countrymen sang “God Save the Queen.”

A fourth career gold medal dangling from his neck, Matthew Pinsent just bowed his head and wiped away tears with the back of his hand.

“To be honest, I didn’t think we’d won,” Pinsent said Saturday after his coxless four had edged Canada by .08 seconds. “The only thing that gave it away was suddenly all the Union Jacks went up.”

Pinsent won his first three medals rowing with British great Steven Redgrave — first in pairs in Barcelona and Atlanta, then in the four in Sydney. The burly 33-year-old’s quest to win a fourth, this time without Redgrave, was a hot topic around the man-made rowing lake near the shores of Marathon Bay.

The British boat wasn’t favored. In addition to an injury to Alexander Partridge, Canada came in as the defending world champions.

American double scullers Aquil Abdullah and Henry Nuzum weren’t able to pull off a surprise of their own, finishing sixth in a rare seven-boat final. France won the gold medal, Slovenia took silver and Italy the bronze.

Abdullah, the first black Olympian on the U.S. men’s team, and Nuzum, a Navy officer, used a stunning comeback to finish in a dead heat with Norway for the third and last qualifying spot in Wednesday’s semi, sending both boats to Saturday’s final.

While they handily beat Norway this time, the Americans were 8.99 seconds behind Italy after the first 500 meters of the 2,000-meter race and never threatened the top boats.

“I had a chance to line up against the best in the world today and to see where I stand, and it’s a great opportunity for any individual,” Abdullah said. “I was pleased with my performance.”

So were the rowers in the Canadian four when they were leading the British by a half-second through 1,500 meters. As they approached the finish, the crowd was so loud that Pinsent couldn’t hear calls for the stroke pace.

“I just decided I’m going to nail it for 30 strokes and we’re going to win this,” he said. “So I counted off 30 in my head and looked around and thought, ’How are they still ahead of us?”’

Pinsent and his crew mates — Ed Coode, Steve Williams and fellow Sydney gold medal-winner James Cracknell — appeared to gain the edge inside the last 10 strokes. Canada’s last-gasp stroke brought its bow nearly even with Britain’s at the finish line.

Nearly.

“It was the best race we’d ever done,” said Canadian rower Cameron Baerg. “It was the most intense. Too bad it was .08 (short), which is one inch.”

Officials reviewed photos before posting the results. When the scoreboard showed Britain first in 6:06.98, Pinsent fell backward and threw up his arms, eyes closed.

Pinsent said he hasn’t decided whether to continue rowing. Should he win another gold in 2008, he’d join Redgrave as the only winners of gold medals at five straight Olympics in an endurance sport.

Italy took bronze, 3.43 seconds behind Britain.

In other finals:

—German single sculler Katrin Rutschow-Stomporowski beat two-time reigning Olympic champion Ekaterina Karsten-Khodotovitch by nearly four seconds, finishing in 7:18.12.

Two-time defending world champion and Sydney silver medalist Rumyana Neykova of Bulgaria took bronze.

“I would have never thought it would be that easy,” Rutschow-Stomporowski said.

—Norwegian single sculler Olaf Tufte followed his victory in last year’s world championships with an Olympic gold medal in a time of 6:49.30, more than two seconds ahead of Estonian Jueri Jaanson and Bulgaria’s Ivo Yanakiev.

“I was waiting four years for this race,” said Tufte, who won a silver in the double sculls at Sydney.

—Australians Drew Ginn and James Tomkins, the defending world champions, jumped to an early lead in the coxless pairs and were never challenged. Croatia got silver, finishing 1.81 seconds behind the Australians’ winning time of 6:30.76. South Africa took bronze.

—Twin sisters Georgina and Carolina Evers-Swindell of New Zealand, the two-time defending double sculling world champions, also started fast, then cruised to the finish, letting up on the final strokes to finish in 7:01.79. Germany won silver and the British took bronze.

—The Romanian tandem of Georgeta Damian and Viorica Susanu, coming off their victory in the World Cup, took the gold medal in pairs, finishing in 7:06.55, followed by Britain and Belarus.

MORE FROM ROWING

U.S. men's eight win Olympic gold medal

U.S. men's eight win Olympic gold medal NBCO slide show: U.S. men, women medal in eights Rowing roundup: Plethora of medals won NBCO slide show: Seven crews crowned champs NBCO: Inside the sport Medal winners   Add Rowing headlines to your news reader: