Determination shows as the British duo battle

"My chest was really causing me problems because I couldn't smash properly and I made so many mistakes.

"At the end it was hurting badly and you could see just how much it restricted me because of the number of shots I put into the net."

Despite the prize, the British star still believes they threw away the chance of bringing home gold.

"I can't tell you how gutted I am that we are not in that final, because the way we played for much of the semi-final, we should have been.

Better than nothing

"It is better than nothing to win bronze, but it is still not the medal that we wanted to win here.

"I will still look up at the British flag as it is raised, but it won't be in the position that I hoped it would be."

Goode was delighted after losing the semi-final from match point up to win the bronze play-off after being match point down.

"I know, I thought it was a goner again. But we kept our heads together," she said.

"We are strong mentally, we kept it together. We knew it was the last one and we really went for it."

Failed

Until this success, Britain had failed to secure a medal at the Games since the sport was introduced at Barcelona in 1992.

It looked as though they would miss out again as Archer's injury appeared to be worsening as the game wore on.

The British pair took the first set at a canter, as the Danes took time to get into the match.

"We played perfect mixed doubles in the opening set," said Archer. "And we didn't give them any opportunity to come into the game.

"But in the second we lost our way a bit and started to make a lot of mistakes.

Fought

"But we weren't going to allow ourselves to be beaten and fought for every point."

Sogaard and Olsen, the fourth seeds, came back at them to take the second in what was a more comfortable way than the scoreline suggested.

And when they came out for the third it looked as though they would take control once again and go on to claim the medal when they led 9-6.

Archer and Goode fought their way back to level the scores and from then on it was a battle of wills.

The Danes seemed to have won it when they had two serves on 14-12 but the Brits took the match into setting and eventually clinched victory.

In the women's singles semi-finals, Camilla Martin kept the Danish flag flying high with a 11-5 11-0 win over China's Dai Yun.

In the other semi - an all-China affair - top seed Gong Zhichao beat Ye Zhaoying 11-8 11-8.