Venus and Serena Williams win doubles gold!

One of the reasons why tennis at the Olympics has become such a big deal is because superstars like Venus Williams and Serena Williams have repeatedly shown how much winning Olympic gold means to them.

Less than 24 hours after Serena joined older sister Venus as a three-time gold medalist with a victory in the women’s singles the sisters became the first four-time gold medalists in tennis when they beat the Czech Republic duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka 6-4 6-4.

Said Venus: ‘For us it’s so exciting winning the gold together. For me it was amazing to watch Serena from the stands and see her complete the golden slam. So it’s been amazing for us.

‘We’ve been winning this title since 2000, but it’s easier said than done. We come in as the favorites. But it’s not a given. We fought hard. Our opponents played well. They’re very talented. We’re glad to keep the medal for us. It was great.’

The sisters had previously won the gold medal in doubles in Sydney 2000 (Venus won the singles gold that year) and in Beijing in 2008.

Added Serena: “Crazy. I’m always copying her. I forgot that she did it in Sydney and I do it here. We’re the same doubles team, we just split this to singles, so it’s cool.”

While Serena was thrilled to win on her own Saturday, with Venus cheering from the family box, the doubles is what she most cared about coming to London. Especially considering all the emotional and physical struggles for Venus, who was diagnosed last year with an autoimmune disease that causes fatigue.

“This is all I wanted,” said Venus, who had all of about two months to raise her ranking and qualify for the Olympics. “Boy, was that a battle. That was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I really feel proud of what happened here at the Olympics.”

It was one more triumph for a player who has won five of her seven Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon.

“Venus has been going through so much and she’s so strong and so she’s so amazing,” Serena said. “And to win this was my goal.”