Editor's note: CNN's Human to Hero series screens on World Sport at 1700 GMT (1200 ET) and 2230 GMT every Wednesday, and 0500 GMT Thursdays.
(CNN) -- It was a "crazy" high-stakes routine that risked everything in the pursuit of gold.
Epke Zonderland had linked together the three most difficult moves in the high bar discipline, but the Dutch gymnast knew if he fluffed any one of them it would lead to humiliation on the world's biggest sporting stage.
The omens were not promising. A few short weeks before the London 2012 Olympics, as defending European champion he fell off the apparatus and finished 56th.
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But Zonderland knew that to beat the best in the world he had to persist with his plan. and on the afternoon of Tuesday August 7, he produced one of the most memorable moments of a Games defined by its iconic sporting achievements.
"I was really focused and not thinking about the past or the future but just of the moment," he told CNN's Human to Hero series.
"The routine was going so fast but by the end of it I was getting more relaxed, and then I did the dismount -- and when I landed the dismount it was the best feeling I ever had."
From the moment the 26-year-old spun off the bar to come down flush on the mat without a hint of a wobble or further movement, he knew the gold was his.
Perfect landing
"It was a perfect landing so it was a really great feeling and the crowd was going wild," he recalled.
After a nervous two-minute wait for the score, Zonderland was confirmed in first place with a massive 16.533 points, beating Germany's Fabian Hambuechen into silver on 16.400 with defending champion Zou Kai of China third on 16.366.
The "Flying Dutchman" -- his rather predictable nickname -- was indeed flying high and returned home as a hero to win a string of awards -- as well being named to the Order of Orange-Nassau, one of the highest honors in the Netherlands.
The YouTube clips of his performance have become a big viral online hit, and he is regularly named in polls of top performances in the 2012 Games.
Read: Olympics 2012 - Top Ten moments
It's all down to pulling off a sequence of complex moves -- named after former gymnasts.
"The first is the cassina, you have a double somersault and then straight, and you make one turn," he explains.
"The second is the kovacs, a double-somersault and then tucked, with your legs, and the third one is the kolman, and it's a double-somersault tucked with one turn."
Zonderland had become renowned as the only gymnast to regularly perform two of the difficult moves in succession, but to perform three had many shaking their head.
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"A lot of people thought that I was crazy because I wanted to do it on the Olympics, because they thought the risk was too big.
"I think I surprised a lot of people to really do it."
For many, such a triumph would be the signal to bow out, but not only is Zonderland setting his sights on the next Olympics in Rio in 2016, he is also combining up to 30 hours per week training with medical studies.
"Of course it's a hard combination. I have a little bit less time for other things but it's great I can do sport at this level and get a great education," said Zonderland, who aims to be an orthopedic doctor.
Immediate motivation comes in his desire to win his first world title after finishing second at two championships.
"It's the one big goal I have left," he admitted.
"It's getting harder and harder to compete at this level but I think I can manage to continue until the next Olympics when I'm 30."
Having started gymnastics training when he was four in the town of Heerenveen, Zonderland will have been in his sport for over a quarter of a century come the next Games, gradually building up the intensity of his efforts.
In a typical four-hour session he will do 50 somersaults, and does not just confine himself just to the high or horizontal bar discipline.
All-round ability
Zonderland has won European silver on the parallel bars, and it was thanks to his ability over six events that he was even able to appear at the 2012 Olympics.
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Finishing outside of the top three in the high bar at the 2011 world championships in Tokyo after a disappointing display, he was forced to qualify via the all-round competition at the London test events.
"I wasn't ready for that anymore but it was the only possibility," he said.
"I qualified (beating fellow Dutchman Jeffrey Wammes) so I was very happy with that, and after that I could train on the parallel bars and high bars again."
It was during this period that Zonderland decided to go with his high-risk strategy, gaining the support of his coach Daniel Knibbeler, who was "quite positive also from the beginning.
His confidence increased as Zonderland appeared to perfect the routine in almost every training session.
But performing it under the pressure of competition is another matter, and Zonderland's spectacular flop at the European championships in Montpellier set nerves on edge.
"I knew from the training where I made it almost all the time that it was possible but the big challenge is in your head," Zonderland said.
"On the day of the competition I had a lot of nerves and it was quite hard to get it under control."
Unique feat?
But he need not have worried, stunning the crowd and his rivals with his performance. But now he is at the summit of his sport, Zonderland knows he cannot relax.
"You realize there are a lot of talented gymnasts who can do the same as you do, so I think about my competitors who are really working hard," he said.
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"I heard about one gymnast in the Netherlands who is also able to do it (the triple move) but for the rest I don't think anybody can do it."
He will step up his training for the world championships in Antwerp in the first weekend of October, sacrificing the sort of lifestyle friends of his own age enjoy.
"You don't have so much time to go out or do things with your friends, so sometimes that's hard but with sport at this level you have no choice."
Fortunately, his girlfriend Linda, who competed at a high level in speed skating as a junior, understands the nature of top-class sports competition.
Zonderland appears remarkably unaffected by his celebrity status in his home country as the first man to win a gymnastics Olympic gold.
Lasting fame
Even his nickname has echoes of the most famous figure in Dutch sporting history, athlete Fanny Blankers Koen, who won four gold medals in track and field at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London.
Blankers Koen was called "the Flying Dutchwoman" and was named IAAF female athlete of the 20th century by the world governing body.
Zonderland has etched his own piece of Olympics history with his stunning performance in London and set new standards in his discipline -- its impact similar to that of the perfect 10 achieved by Nadia Comaneci at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.
Read: Nadia Comaneci and the first perfect '10'
In his own country, gymnastics has received a massive boost as youngsters look to emulate him.
"It's called the 'Epke effect,' " his agent of five years Johan Boesjes told CNN.
"He's inspiring a generation of young people and all the clubs have had a massive boost."
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