Born: 18 December 1971

Birthplace: Barcelona (Spain)

Nationality: Spain

Sport: Tennis

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Barcelona 1992

Atlanta 1996

Sydney 2000

Athens 2004

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Silver: 2

Bronze: 2

Other results:

Grand Slam Titles

French Open Singles (1989, 94, 98)

US Open Singles (1994)

Australian Open Doubles (92, 95, 96)

US Open Doubles (93, 94)

Wimbledon Doubles (1995)

Australian Open Mixed Doubles (1993)

French Open Mixed Doubles (90, 92)

US Open Mixed Doubles (2000)

Tenis mi corazón

Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario started playing tennis at the age of four, following in the footsteps of her two older brothers, Emilio and Javier, who also went on to be professional players. She played her first Grand Slam tournament at the age of 15. Two years later, in 1988, she was one of the top 20 women players in the world and took part in the Olympic tennis tournament, which was back in the Games after a 64-year absence. Arantxa was knocked out in the first round by Yugoslavia's Sabrine Goles by two sets to love.

In 1992, she competed in her second Olympic Games on home ground. For this edition in Barcelona, Arantxa was beaten in the semi-final of the women's singles by the American Jennifer Capriati, by two sets to one. The women's doubles final pitted the American pair Gigi Fernández and Mary-Joe Fernández against Sánchez-Vicario and Conchita Martínez. The first set was very tight, and was won by the Americans. The Spanish pair took the second set to draw equal, before losing the final set. Thus, they did not win Olmypic gold in front of their home crowd.

For her third participation in the Olympic Games, Arantxa was again beaten in the final, and won silver, this time in the women's singles against America's Lindsay Davenport. As in 1992, the doubles tournament was dominated by the Fernández team from the USA. Still with Conchita Martínez, Arantxa won the bronze medal against Dutch pair Brenda Schultz-Mac Carthy and Marion Bollegraf.

In 2000 in Sydney, Arantxa, who had been world number one in 1995, was knocked out in the quarter-final of the women's singles by Venus Williams, and in the second round of the women's doubles by the Belarusians Olga Barabanschikova and Natasha Zvereva. The Athens Olympic Games were the opportunity for Arantxa to bow out and leave the international circuit one month after announcing her retirement. For her last appearance on the Olympic stage, the Spaniard, with Annabel Medina-Garrigues, was knocked out in the first round by Argentina's Paola Suarez and Patricia Tarabini.

Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario's retirement from sport was well-deserved, after winning four Olympic medals (a record shared with Steffi Graf), four Grand Slam singles titles, six doubles titles (for eight finals lost) and 92 other titles on the international circuit.