Tom Lucy secured Wales its third Olympic medal as the rowing ace helped the eight-man crew to silver.
The 20-year-old followed in the footsteps of rowing team-mate Tom James and cycling golden girl Nicole Cooke during Sunday's final in Beijing.
The eight-man boat held off the United States to finish second behind Canada and rowing great Sir Steve Redgrave hailed the achievement as "fantastic."
But Lucy said: "We're disappointed because we didn't win gold."
"I don't want to get all hung up on not winning gold as we gave it all on the day"
Lucy, the youngest member of GB rowing team, aided the eight-man boat to World Championship bronze last year but the Monmouth ace has gone one better on his Olympic debut in Beijing.
The eight-man crew of Alex Partridge, Tom Stallard, Lucy, Richard Egington, Josh West, Alastair Heathcote, Matt Langridge, Colin Smith and Acer Nethercott won the sixth British rowing medal at the 2008 Olympics in the final event at the regatta.
"The Canadians are a very strong," said Lucy. "And if we had executed a perfect race then we'd have been much closer.
"We're disappointed as we always dreamed of winning a gold medal but we've won silver and you can't be too upset with that.
"I don't want to get all hung up on not winning gold as we gave it all on the day but unfortunately it wasn't enough.
The Canadians, coached by Briton Mike Spracklen, were a length ahead at half-way and withstood late pushes from GB and the Americans.
Australia, who had six-times Olympian James Tomkins on board, finished outside the medals.
Although Lucy didn't win gold, he enjoyed his Olympic experience.
"It was the best experience of my life," he said. "A dream come true."
Men's eights final:
1 Canada 5:23.89 (Gold), 2 Great Britain 5:25.11 (Silver), 3 United States 5:25.34 (Bronze), 4 Netherlands 5:29.26, 5 Poland 5:31.42, 6 Australia 5:35.10
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