Tennis: Williams sisters win historic fourth gold

American duo overpowers Czech pair in doubles final.

LONDON: Venus and Serena Williams became the first tennis players to win four Olympic golds after a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Czech pair Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the women’s doubles final at Wimbledon.

The Williams sisters had already won doubles gold at the Sydney Games in 2000 and in Beijing in 2008, while Venus claimed the singles gold in Sydney and Serena won her first individual gold on Saturday, when she crushed Maria Sharapova in the final.

Venus and Serena also joined Spain’s Conchita Martinez, who won silver in 1992 and 2004 and bronze in 1996, as the only tennis players to win medals at three different Olympics.

“It was so exciting to win the singles, but like I said at the beginning of the tournament my goal was to get gold in doubles here,” said Serena. “There’s something about standing next to Venus and holding that gold medal.

“Three times we’ve played, three times we’ve got the gold medal. So we are pretty stoked about it.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 6^th, 2012.