Serena & Venus Williams win 3rd doubles gold at London Olympics

Serena & Venus Williams win 3rd doubles gold

The Williams sisters won their third Olympic women’s doubles gold medal, beating the Czech Republic duo of Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova in straight sets 6-4 6-4. Serena, who won her fifth Wimbledon singles crown last month, adds doubles gold to her singles title.

The sisters first won the doubles at Sydney in 2000, then again in Beijing in 2008 after missing Athens because of an injury to Serena. Venus believes they can go on to record a fourth victory at the Rio Games in 2016.

The Williams sisters, who also won doubles gold in Beijing and Sydney, took an hour and a half to wrap up their defeat of the number four seeds under the Centre Court roof.

“There’s something about standing next to Venus and holding that gold medal. Three times we have played, three times we have got the gold medal. So we are pretty stoked about it,” said Serena, who also won the women’s singles gold on Saturday.

The Czech pair saved two match points before Venus secured the victory with a backhand volley, hugging her sister in celebration as chants of “USA! USA!” rang out from the crowd.

With Venus also having won singles gold in Sydney, the pair have overtaken previous record holder Reginald Doherty of Britain, who won a total of three golds in 1900 and 1908.

“It’s incredible. After coming off Serena’s victory I think most of all we are happy to add to our country’s medal count and be a part of it. Wow. It just feels unreal,” said Venus, who is already thinking about adding a fourth doubles gold to the collection at the 2016 Games.

“We’re definitely planning on Rio. We’re going out with a bang in Rio. Hopefully we will make it four, you never know.”

(Editing by Mark Meadows and Mark Trevelyan)