Track and field events produced another bonanza of medals on the last day of the Malta 2003 Games to take athletics' medal tally to 18, thus fulfilling all pre-Games expectations. It was indeed another afternoon to remember as national records tumbled with our athletes reaching a perfect peak.
This tally of medals, besides those won in other disciplines earlier in the day, exceeds the Malta Olympic Committee projections.
Malta finished with a record number of 44 medals of which 11 were gold, another record. In San Marino we had won 35 medals in all - seven were gold.
In midweek, MOC director of Sport, Pippo Psaila, had projected that Malta would finish with a medals' tally of between 37 and 42. Before the Games got underway it was also the MOC's target that Malta will place an unprecedented fourth in the final medals table, something which was achieved with medals to spare.
Tanya Blake was again the toast of the good-sized crowd that gathered at the Matthew Micallef St John Stadium on the final afternoon of the GSSE 2003.
She fulfilled her expectations and those of the track and field fraternity when she landed her second gold medal and the fourth in athletics for Malta. Certainly, it was a successful finale for the Maltese.
Blake ran a superb tactical race, keeping close to the heels of Elisabetta Vagnini of San Marino for almost three laps before overtaking her to finish in 4:29.01, a new national record. Vagnini's time was 4:31.35.
"This is not my event, but I was expected to win. The 1,500m race was the first ever for me in Malta. I am happy I managed to win and again carry the Maltese flag around my shoulders," a relaxed Blake said.
The silver medals came in the relay races, two in the 4x100 for men and women and one in the 4x400 for women. The bronze medals were won in the 4x400 men's relay and the women's long jump.
The men's shorter relay team of Nikolai Portelli, Rachid Chouhal, Mario Bonello and Darren Gilford tried hard to put up a challenge to the strong Cypriot quartet, but they had to settle for second place in 41.00, 0.92 seconds behind their rivals, who broke the Games record.
In the women's race, the Maltese quartet made up of Therese Mallia, Celine Pace, Deirdre Farrugia and Suzanne Spiteri looked like wrapping it up as they led with 80 metres to go.
But Cypriot sprinter Maria Gregogiou produced a fantastic burst of speed to sweep past her Maltese rival. The winner's time was 47.71 with Malta registering 48.05.
The longer relays also provided exciting moments, particularly in the women's race which regaled the Maltese girls with a national record of 3:45.69, 1.21 seconds behind the Cypriots.
The team was made up of Charlene Attard, Celine Pace, Sue Spiteri and Tanya Blake.
The men had to settle for bronze in the last event of the day, the 4x400m. Cyprus, as expected, won in 3:12.51 (a record) but there was a keen battle for second place, which was finally resolved in favour of Luxembourg, who clocked 3:15.53, 0.64 ahead of Malta's Chouhal, Karl Farrugia, Portelli and Bonello.
The only field event of the afternoon was the long jump, and this gave Rebecca Camilleri the double satisfaction of a bronze medal and a national record of 5.86 metres, four centimetres longer than her own previous mark.
The event was won by Irene Charalambous, of Cyprus. She jumped 6.38 metres, another Games record.
Without any doubt, Chouhal must have been very disappointed with his result in the 200 metres final.
He had expressed hopes of finishing among the medals and was aspiring to atone for his mediocre performance in the 100 metres sprint.
He did not appear to have the best of starts and, as the race progressed, it became evident that he would end up at the rear of the field.
Chouhal, in fact, could only finish in seventh place in a very modest time of 22.20. Probably having concentrated on his long jump event, the Moroccan-born athlete may have run out of psychological steam.
Mario Bonello, too, would have expected a better result, even if he finished fourth. His time was 21.73, 0.05 seconds behind Gian Nicola Bernardi of San Marino. The race was won by Annino Marcoullides of Cyprus, who clocked 20.95 seconds.
In the men's 1,500 metres, a race won by Bjorn Mergersson of Iceland in 3:48.53, Alex Busuttil finished eighth in 3:56.45, and Mark Herrera brought up the rear in 4:01.24.
The women's 200m race produced a Games record of 23.56 registered by Gregogiou.
Celine Pace was probably hoping for a place on the podium, but had to settle for fourth place. However, she derived satisfaction when she equalled the national record of 25.04. Spiteri finished sixth in 25.78.
On top of the four gold, five silver and seven bronze medals, Malta won two other bonus medals, two silver, based on the aggregated performances in the men's and women's category, a system introduced in these Games.
MAAA president Tony Chircop expressed his satisfaction with the overall performances.
"I had predicted over a year ago and expressed these strong aspirations with Minister for Youth and the Arts Jesmond Mugliett, that we would win four gold medals," he said.
"We won the four golds to make it a tally of 18 medals in all and that shows the improvement we have made in track and field.
"It was a team effort, including all officials. The athletes established a number of national records, and that, too, is extremely satisfactory."