At 2.02, there were four jumpers left in the competition. World champion Hestrie Cloete of South Africa and Yelena Slesarenko of Russia had perfect records on six jumps, with American Amy Acuff edging Viktoriya Styopina () on countback.
Cloete, Slesarenko and Styopina all cleared 2.02 at their first attempt, so Acuff having dropped to fourth passed.
Cloete failed her first attempt at 2.04, but Slesarenko cleared. Cloete failed a second time at that height before passing. Acuff and Styopina found 2.04 out of reach.
Cloete also fell short on her single attempt at to 2.06, whilst Slesarenko jumped an Olympic record 2.06 to win the gold.
Slesarenko then attempted to clear 2.10 to beat the World record. Her third attempt at the height was very close.
Having won the 800m earlier in the week and negotiated the early rounds with ease, Britain's Kelly Holmes was favourite going into the final.
Natalya Yevdokimova set a fast pace right from the gun. Poland’s Lidia Chojecka was right behind her and Russia’s World champion, Tatyana Tomashova, in third, as they passed 400m in 63.59sec and 800m in 2:08.64.
The early laps saw Kelly in her customary 'safe' position at the back of the field, ready to pounce when the race reached it's climax. At the half-way point, Holmes made her first move, although there was little change in the race order even after the bell at 2:58.00.
For a moment, approaching the final bend, it appeared as if she had left things a bit late, but with 100 metres to go she moved around the leading group and took a long look over her right shoulder to look for the other challengers.
But there were none, she passed Yevdokimova entering the straight, and held off Tomashova as the finishing line approached, to claim her second Gold of the Games, in 3:57.90.
Tomashova won Silver in 3:58.12, while Maria Cioncan, of Romania,coming through on the inside of the weakening Natalya Yevdokimova to claim bronze in 3:58.39.
The American Team includes new Olympic 200m gold medallist, the Olympic 100m gold medal-winner, and the previous Olympic champion.
None of the four British athletes in the relay team had managed to make the individual finals in either of the sprint events, yet were considered capable of achieving a minor medal behind the Americans.
But anything can happen in the relay, particularly the shorter version.
Nerves were increased, following a false start caused by Jason Gardner, but faultless changeovers as the baton was passed from Jason Gardner to Darren Campbell and then to Marlon Devonish, left the GB team in the lead coming off the bend into the final changevoer.
Mark Lewis-Francis had a small lead on Maurice Greene, the Sydney 2000 100m gold medallist, as he took the baton and we cheered as he managed to hold him off in the final straight to win by 0.01s.
The sprint relay team and the many Brits in the crowd (including us) were ecstatic.
Dee Dee Trotter led off the American team to a superb start. Folowing an opening leg of 49.19 handed the baton to Monique Henderson, with Russia, Great Britain and Jamaica in close pursuit.
Henderson extended the American lead as she passed to Sanya Richards. Richards ran the first 200 metres so safely that it briefly looked like Olesya Zykina of Russia and Nadia Davy of Jamaica could catch up, but she accelerated through the second half of her leg to complete it in timed in 49.81, some 20 metres clear of her pursuers as she handed over to Monique Hennagan.
Hennagan ran the fastest leg of the team (49.73) to anchored the American team to the Olympic gold in 3:19.01.
Russian, individual bronze medallist Natalya Antyukh completed her leg in 49.43 but her team had left her too much to do. Russia were clearly second in 3:20.16 with Jamaica third in 3:22.00.
Britain’s, Lee McConnell made up a lot of ground on Grazyna Prokopek (Poland) in the final leg but the Scottish sprinter couldn't do better than anchoring Great Britain to fourth in 3:25.12 a mere tenth of a second ahead of Poland.
The loudest cheer was reserved for the last placed team, but then it was the Greeks! Unfortunately, a missed second change over had left them far behind, leaving Fani Halkia, the 400m Hurdles champion, to complete the final leg to thunderous cheers.
The United States of America may have failed to claim a medal in the individual 400m race but there had been no denying them in the 4x400m relay.
A win by an American quartet including all three medallists in the individual event seemed assured.
The win by the US men in a near-Olympic record 2:55.91 was exciting only insofar as watching the clock was concerned.
Silver medallist Otis Harris opened with a 44.6, and lead at the first changeover.
Bronze medallist Derrick Brew, sped around the stadium in 43.6.
Olympic champion Jeremy Wariner on the third leg completed in 43.9.
Wariner passed to Darold Williamson. Williamson ran the last lap in 43.8 to secure the Gold medal for American over five seconds ahead of Australia’s Clinton Hill moved ahead of the rest on the final bend to finish in 3:00.60 and the silver medal. Great Britain, Japan and Nigeria ere in contention for the bronze. Only in the final metres did Enefiok Udo Obong of Nigeria edge ahead to seize the bronze in 3:00.90, as the last-ditch efforts of Japan (3:00.99) and the British team (3:01.07) came to nothing.