Team USA claimed gold in the Men's Four Rowing event. Two of the men on that team are from Chester County: Justin Best and Nick Mead.
The Philadelphia rowing community came together to show their support for the hometown heroes as friends and family gathered at the Drexel Boathouse to watch the race.
It's the first gold medal that Team USA has won in the men's four rowing since 1960 and the team told NBC10 that they had the focus and determination to get the job done.
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Moments after Justin Best won the gold medal for the men's four, he recited the greatest speech given by an Eagles player during the franchise's 2017 Super Bowl celebration.
"Hungry dogs run faster," he recited.
The Drexel graduate was there was Jason Kelce delivered the speech epitomizing the determination and grit required for an underdog to achieve victory.
"I had my girlfriend on my shoulder when he was giving that speech… and I’m just like…’I’m excited," Best said.
Best, a Kennett Square native, and Nick Mead, a Stafford native, are row mates who say they carried that mentality into Thursday's medal round.
Making a strong start and never letting up they narrowly edged out New Zealand and Great Britain who are two teams that have dominated the event for decades.
Best says when they woke up in the morning of August 1, they were locked in.
"We had done a couple of visualization sessions where you close your eyes and you walk through the race. You walk through how you're feeling, you know, the calls that we made throughout the race out there," Best explained.
It's a meteoric rise from the last games in Tokyo where the US men's placed fourth.
It wasn't until last year that the four row mates joined forces to fulfill their dreams.
"Even then when we were like in the early stages of this campaign, I think we had the confidence that we could do this even if no one really believed in that," Mead said.
And they'll tell you that it's all it took, that hungry dog mentality, an Eagles mindset that wants a win more than anyone else.
So, what's next for these guys? They plan to stick around in Paris as spectators of other Olympic events.
