Great Britain celebrated their first gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics as UK prime minister praised the achievements as “fantastic.”

Helen Grover and Heather Stanning created history by becoming the first British women to win an Olympic gold for rowing and also made Team GB proud by opening their gold medal tally at the Games.

Prime minister David Cameron said, “London Mayor Boris Johnson said “It was a great success for the United Kingdom team. An historic triumph will be celebrated throughout the country today. It’s an outstanding achievement and I’m sure it will spur on all our athletes in the medal stakes. It’s fantastic - Go Team GB.”

Glover’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Craig Palmer, said “Soldiers from 32nd Regiment Royal Artillery were thrilled to watch the race from their bases in Afghanistan, while their friends and families watched it here in the UK. I am sure that they have been inspired by her performance and we look forward to welcoming her back to the regiment later this year.”

Tour de France winner began his competition in the cycling time trial. However, the day came with mixed emotions as eight badminton players were disqualified.

Olympics chief Lord Coe on the disqualification issue said, “The sadness of it is I was actually at the badminton yesterday and I saw a British competitor narrowly fail to progress but the games were incredibly competitive in front of really large enthusiastic audiences - unacceptable. I know the federation really well and they will take that really seriously. It is unacceptable.”

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