The Olympic Tennis Event is over; Russians have triple success

At the Olympic Games Tennis Event, the Russians had triple success, as they gained first, second and third place in the 29th Olympiad.

Elena Dementieva worked hard to gain Gold as she won to Dinara Safina, who recieved Silver, and Vera Zvonareva battled against Li Na to get Bronze, which she did.

Two times was a charm for Dementieva, as she beat her record of gaining Silver in 2000, being runner-up to Venus Williams. It was Safina's first Olympics, and she was pretty impressive, making a run to the final before losing to her countrywoman.

"I remember playing my first Olympic Games in Sydney. I was 18 years old and nobody expected anything from me. Nobody really expected any medals from Russia at that time. We were so happy to have Yevgeny Kafelnikov winning the gold medal and me the silver. It was a really exciting surprise for Russia. But coming here to Beijing, there were lots of expectations for our team. From the beginning, I think we were planning to get two medals. But this year we were guaranteed silver and gold, and we even had a chance to get all three of them," said Gold medalist Dementieva.

Dementieva won to Safina in a three-setter, 36 75 63.

"My most difficult match of the week was today against Dinara because she's playing at her best," Dementieva said. "She's the hottest player on the Tour at the moment. It was really difficult to return her serve. After losing the first set, it was difficult to stay positive and keep doing the right things, not getting too emotional and thinking about every point. I'm so happy I got through it."

"This is for sure the biggest moment in my career, in my life; I will never forget this moment," Dementieva said. "It's hard to believe actually. I was thinking about this for a long, long time, and I was getting ready mentally and physically. I was dreaming every day about it. But when it comes to you it's still a surprise. It's very difficult to explain the way I feel right now. It'll take a few days before I realize I'm an Olympic champion."

"I'm disappointed I lost, but on the other hand, what I've done, coming from the States, winning two tournaments in a row, I didn't have one normal day off. I took the flight from Montréal to Europe, from Europe to here. From all this scheduling, matches, doubles, singles, from what I've done, I think I can be proud of myself. It's sad it's not the gold medal, but it doesn't matter because I think what I've done, not many girls can do it," said Safina, who didn't prevail agianst Dementieva.

"All the Russians were playing so well," Zvonareva said. "It's just amazing that we all were able to do so well here, to get three medals for our country. We're all very proud of it. Russian tennis is at a great level. It's at the highest level."