ITF

66 I prepared for those Games as I had never done before. Previous to tennis, I had been practising track and field and I had a good physical condition. Normally you did one-and-a-half months' preseason training because seasons were not as long as they are today. But that year I did four-and-a-half months. In fact, I focused all my season on the Olympic Games. The possibility of a big result in such a big competition and doing it in my hometown was the most important opportunity of my life. We did four hours of gym, three physical training sessions and two on tennis courts, all from Monday to Saturday. Eight- and-a-half hours every day. I arrived at the competition at an exceptional level and after getting good results. I lost the final for just a few points. I was not lucky during the match because I was the only one who had break points in the first set but at the end he [Marc Rosset] won in the tiebreak and also the second set. This was hard for me because I had to win two sets and I put him against the wall. But then, it grew dark in the evening, they put the lights on and he recovered in some way. The best moment for me was when I went into the semifinals because that meant one of the medals was going to be mine, and it was then that I turned to my family to celebrate it. That was incredible. But after the final, after being so close to the gold medal, you feel sad. To play the Olympic Games in my city and also on my favourite surface, it was an opportunity I had to fight for and this is the reason I took the risk of doing a whole year of physical preparation, which was also dangerous for my ranking. But I believed the extreme conditions of five set matches, on clay and in hot conditions, were perfect for me. I had to take advantage of that unique moment. Jordi Arrese Jordi Arrese To win an Olympic medal is really important because doors are opened more to you and people know you much better. You have to think maybe I was the Spanish athlete who appeared the most on TV during that time because my matches were really long and Spanish national TV offered them live. A race could be 20 seconds, some others maybe five minutes but all the time I was shown on TV helped me to be very well known in the country. You even realise you are popular around the world. You can only compare it with a Grand Slam final. To win it at home is priceless, for me it has always been the best thing that could have happened to me. If I had won it in London or some other city, it wouldn't have been the same. For sure, I wouldn't have taken so many risks during my preparation. I did everything for it. It was really hard... something crazy I never repeated again. I even had a psychological preparation to improve my concentration. For some years my medal was at the museum of the Catalan Tennis Federation but I was tired of not having it. So now it is there with the rest of my trophies, together with the Davis Cup we won in Seville and the Davis Cup final trophy from Australia. This silver medal is something that will forever be part of me, being really close to the gold one, and I did all this in my city. BARCELONA 1992 MEN'S SINGLES SILVER To win at home is priceless, for me it has always been the best thing that could have happened.

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