ITF

45 I was in the team in 1984 and I broke my ankle for the Olympics where tennis was a demonstration sport. In 1988 in Seoul, I hurt my ankle again so I couldn't make it. In 1992, I managed. And then in 1996 I was in the team but I was also injured. So I was in the team four times but managed to play one time and I got the gold. You must remember the Olympics were in Barcelona, the headquarters of Spanish tennis are in Barcelona, [Sergio] Casal and [Emilio] Sanchez are the No. 1 doubles team in the world and happened to be from Barcelona, so you can imagine the support they received when they stepped on the court [for the quarterfinal]. Michael [Stich] and myself in those days were not on speaking terms because we were battling each other in the Wimbledon final and quarterfinal, so were not the best of mates at all. But our captain Niki Pilic realised that we had to talk a little bit to win that match, so he sat us together the night before and just said, "Listen boys, if you want to get the medal, if you want to beat the home crowd favourites, you have got to play as a team and talk to one another," and that's what we did. So we ended up beating them in five sets and it was the most amazing doubles we ever played. The thing with the quarterfinal was that we wanted to get a medal. We both lost in singles and we knew we had to qualify for the semifinal at least to get a medal, so once we were in the semifinals half the pressure was already out because we succeeded. But obviously once you are in the semifinals you want to play for gold, so our main motivation was, "Let's win this one, let's get the chance to play for gold." We knew that we are good singles players and we knew that because of our style, serve and volley, we are going to play good in doubles. We played Davis Cup before so we knew how each other played, but we were just such big rivals individually that we couldn't put it aside. But we both realised that he needs me and I need him to win a medal and that's what happened. Winning gold was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had on a tennis court. I didn't think before I entered the Olympics that it would feel that good. As a tennis player you focus on the Grand Slams, and the Olympics was sort of a new thing for us. When we got to the Olympic Village, you are sitting with the German team, everybody at night talks about their trials and tribulations and whether they won a medal for Germany. The more we were in the Olympic Village, the more we were confronted with that. We really also wanted to win a gold medal in tennis, so that was amazing. It's a very different reaction because you are representing a country, not playing for yourself. Even in doubles you represent another teammate. But then when we stepped on the podium, the German anthem was played, the flag goes up and that's very moving. That's when it really hits you that this is unique, this is for the history books. It stands with my Grand Slam titles, definitely. The Olympic gold is one of my greatest achievements. If I talk about my Wimbledon success and reaching No. 1, I talk about my Olympic gold. We both realised that he needs me and I need him to win a medal. have

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