Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel became the most successful woman in Olympic cycling history after she powered to the time trial title on day five.
The Dutch rider gritted her teeth after suffering a nasty fall in the women's road race to complete the 24km-course in 31 minutes, 11.53 seconds.
The 34-year-old is the first female cyclist to win four Olympic gold medals on the road or in the velodrome.
She is bidding for a fifth gold in the track individual pursuit on Saturday.
Zijlarrd-van Moorsel thought her Olympics were over when she took a tumble after clipping the rider in front of her in the road race.
"After such a crash, I could never have dreamt something like that," she said after successfully defending her time trial title.
"I have pain everywhere and it was getting worse through the race. I don't think elite sport is that healthy."
The Dutchwoman is retiring after the Athens Games but her tally of four golds and a silver saw her eclipse athletics great Fanny Blankers-Koen as the Netherlands most successful female Olympian.
American Deirdre Demet-Barry took the silver medal 24.09 seconds behind Zijlarrd-van Moorsel while Karin Thuerig of Switzerland took bronze.