China's Tan Yeteng finished fourth, with American Ron Harvey and Australia's Dominic Moneypenny in fifth and sixth.
Home excitement then bubbled over when China held off a fast-finishing Australia to take the gold medal in the mixed double sculls.
Shan Zilong and Zhou Yangjing scored a hard-fought victory with only 0.89 seconds over Australia's Kathryn Ross and John Maclean, early leaders and eventual bronze medallists Josiane Lima and Elton Santana from Brazil 7.67 seconds further behind.
"Indeed, our rivals are very strong, especially the Brazilian and Australian teams," said Zhou. "They finished first and second in the world championships in 2007 and we were in the seventh place. And today's result has proved that we have the potential and the ability to compete with them."
Brazil started strongly, leading China and the rest of the field through the halfway mark by over two seconds, but that early pace seemed to take its toll as China noticeably lifted their stroke and work rates, an effort Brazil couldn't match.
As the tempo of the race increased, the Chinese pair maintained their rhythm and by the 750 meters mark had enough fuel in the tank to hold off a fast-charging and increasingly-threatening Australian combination over the closing stage.
Italy then took its turn to step onto the top of the podium after their quartet scoring a hugely impressive all-the-way win in the mixed coxed fours.
(Xinhua News Agency September 11, 2008)