ITF

55 I played in four different Games, winning three medals in three different Games. It's really good. My career was long – 18 years professionally – and always at a pretty high level so I'm pretty proud of that. It's really emotional because you feel like you play for your country. I mean even though you are playing for yourself you are playing for your country and winning medals with the team. You have people from the federation and the doctors, the physio, and it's kind of like a family there. It's very emotional to hear the anthems. I probably cried a little bit. You get goosebumps, you get nervous, it's quite emotional. It's very cool and it's different. You have the podium and you receive your medal with the other two. It's the Olympics! It feels like tennis but it's a little bit different. The one in Barcelona was my first Olympic Games, playing at home, so there were a lot of emotions there. I remember playing the final and the King and Queen of Spain came and how everybody clapped for them – I think they came in the third set – and that was pretty amazing, too. That was my first time and I was very excited. We [with Arantxa Sanchez Vicario] didn't win the gold but it was still very exciting. Then Atlanta was pretty exciting too. You know, winning bronze you still have to win that match to get the bronze. When you're in the final you already know you have won a medal. But for the bronze you still have to win one more match to win a medal. It's like playing another final to get another medal. So it's still, when you get the bronze, it's pretty much like winning a final. Then the difference with Athens is, you (might) lose the gold when you win the semifinal. I remember winning our semifinal match [with Virginia Ruano Pascual] and being all excited like, "Wow, we're in the final so we have either silver or gold, for sure." Everybody in Spain was expecting for us to win the gold and so when we didn't get the gold it was pretty much devastating, so the podium was tough because of the expectations of everyone – the press, and people, and people didn't know the Chinese girls [Sun Tian-Tian and Li Ting]. We knew they were getting ready for years but (people) not knowing anything about them, they all expected us to win. We were pretty much devastated for a long time. The medals are very, very important. All my titles are very, very important for me. I have my Olympic medals next to my other trophies. I have some stands where I can store a lot of trophies in my living room. I remember playing the final and the King and Queen of Spain came. It feels like tennis but it's a little bit different. It feels like tennis but it's a little bit different.

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