ITF

80 Mark: It is breathtaking to look back and think as a gold and silver medallist I can go to certain events back home in Australia, like the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame functions, and be introduced as an Olympic medallist. I mean the hairs on the back of your head stand up. The functions that I have gone to, it is phenomenal to be walking in rubbing shoulders with all these other great Olympic athletes. Todd: It changed my life in that I was a well-known tennis player, Mark and I were a well-known combination as the Woodies, but we became household names to people who didn't even necessarily follow sport, so that is the difference. You are a sportsman but you become a household identity. Mark: After 1996 our profile back in Australia increased tremendously. We were quite well known in the tennis circles but that is what the Olympics is about. It really reaches deep into our minds, our memories. T odd: I think you realise pretty much immediately that winning gold is a life-changing result. I think that for me the one thing that stands out about the Olympics and the one thing I tell people is that when you win something in tennis at a major championship people congratulate you and pat you on the back, and your family and friends are very happy and you celebrate with them, but when you win a medal you celebrate with the country, and that continues on. It is amazing the aura an Olympic medal has about it. It is breathtaking to look back and think as a gold and silver medallist I can go to certain events back home in Australia, like the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame functions, and be introduced as an Olympic medallist.

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