Pereira, the 29-year-old who won a 400 metres individual medley silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics, shot to prominence with two medals at the age of 17 at the 2003 Games in Santa Domingo.

He then took eight more, including six golds, at each of the Rio de Janeiro 2007 and Guadalajara 2011 editions, before winning a 4x100m freestyle relay gold here last night to tie on 19 with legend Gustova Borges, who competed across four Games between 1991 and 2003.

He first earned bronze in the 200m breaststroke behind compatriot Thiago Simon before joining Luiz Melo, Nicolas Oliveira and individual 200m winner João de Lucca to take the 4x200m freestyle relay crown.

They won a tight dual with the United States in 7min 11.15sec, although the US were later disqualified pending an appeal for an athlete wearing a bandage on his finger without permission, meaning Canada and Venezuela secured the minor medals,

This puts him just one behind Cuban gymnast Erick Lopez in terms of all-time medals in the history of the Games.

Pereira will have more medal chances to come in his favoured medley events, and will then travel to Kazan for the International Swimming Federation World Championships before focusing on his push for more Olympic medals at his home Games in Rio next summer.

His success crowned another good day for Brazil as, along with their three swimming golds, there was a successful heavyweight weightlifting title defence for Fernando Reis, who set three Games records en route to a total lift of 427kg.

There were two defeats for the South American nation to US opponents in the men's and women's doubles badminton finals however, as well as in the men's water polo final, where a vastly improved team pushed the Americans hard before slipping to an 11-9 defeat.

After drawing a gold medal blank yesterday, the US also gained a first victory in the pool courtesy of three-time London 2012 relay champion Allison Schmidtt, who won the 200m freestyle in 1:56.23, before Sean Lehane claimed 200m backstroke success.

But Canada remained comfortably clear on the medals table, winning twice in the pool to follow a hatrick of earlier victories in rowing as well as a second gold for pistol shooter Lynda Kiejko, this time in the 25m event.

On a day marred by news that four of their squad had defected across the US border, Cuba's rising star Angel Fournier also gained a superb victory in the men's single sculls. 

Elsewhere, there was a first gold of the Games for Venezuela, and then two more, as weightlifters Jesus Gonzalez Barrios and Yaniuska Espinosa each claimed podium-topping victories before Ulileixes Rivas did likewise in the under 66kg Greco Roman wrestling.

Argentina enjoyed the best of the action in tennis, with Facundo Bagnis requiring just 49 minutes to beat Colombia's Nicolas Barrientos in the men's singles final.

Guido Andreozzi and Maria Irigoyen then added a second victory in a late night mixed doubles decider. 

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