First gold medals were celebrated on the evening in French House in Rio de Janeiro.

SOUNDBITE: (French) Denis Gargaud-Chanut, french canoe-kayak gold medal (Q: So how does it fell to be an olympic champion? .)

" It's hard to summarize the feeling. It's first of all a satisfaction for all my team and for my family. It's the end of a nice journey after four years of hard work. It wasn't easy at the beginning, and today it's the high point, i'm just happy and i'm enjoying it."

SOUNDBITE: (French) Denis Gargaud-Chanut, french canoe-kayak gold medal (Q: Tony Estanguet gave you the medal on podium, it's like the transfer has been made now? .)

" Obviously, we have a huge history of wining the gold medal in our sport. We have a lot of olympic champions, there is not just Tony Estangue, he's got the highest number but there were others before him that helped him to win I think. Tony always gave me some advice, or discuss things with me when I needed. So he will be pleased that the olympic title stays in France."