Murray avenged his tear-jerking Wimbledon final loss by inflicting defeat on Federer and winning his country's first men's singles title in tennis since 1908.
Federer had stopped Murrary from becoming Britain's first men's Wimbledon singles champion for 76 years just 28 days ago, and Murrary was keen to extract revenge on home ground.
Murray had little time to celebrate the win as he prepared to go for another gold in the mixed doubles.
Murray was in uncharted territory in a five-set contest against Federer. He had lost every one of their grand slam matches, despite their overall 8-8 head-to-head record.
The Swiss had also won more than once from two sets down at Wimbledon but, after two comfortable holds at the start of the third, he was pummelled into submission again by Murray's crosscourt backhand.
Everything Murray touched today was turning to gold, while Federer's game continued to disintegrate in a manner never before seen on Centre Court.