Australia's Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde defeated Great Britain's Neil Broad and Tim Henman in the final, 6–4, 6–4, 6–2 to win the gold medal in Men's Doubles tennis at the 1996 Summer Olympics. It was the fourth of five components the Woodies needed for the career Golden Slam; they would later win the French Open to complete the achievement. It was Australia's first official medal in the event, though Australian player Edwin Flack was a member of a mixed team that won bronze in the 1896 event. Great Britain earned its first medal in the men's doubles since 1924. In the bronze-medal match, Germany's Marc-Kevin Goellner and David Prinosil defeated the Netherlands' Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis, 6–2, 7–5. It was Germany's second consecutive medal in the event.
| Men's doubles | |
|---|---|
| Tennis at the 1996 Summer Olympics | |
| Champions |  Todd Woodbridge  Mark Woodforde (AUS) |
| Runners-up |  Neil Broad  Tim Henman (GBR) |
| Score | 6–4, 6–4, 6–2 |
| Men's doubles at the Games of the XXVI Olympiad | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Todd Woodbridge (2004)  Mark Woodforde (2011) | ||||||||||
| Venue | Stone Mountain Tennis Center | |||||||||
| Dates | 25 July – 2 August 1996 | |||||||||
| Competitors | 31 teams (62 players) from 31 nations | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
The tournament was held from 25 July to 2 August at the Stone Mountain Tennis Center, in Atlanta, Georgia of the United States of America.[1] There were 31 pairs from 31 nations, with each nation limited to one pair (two players),[1]though the pair from Uzbekistan did not start.
Background
editThis was the 10th appearance of men's doubles tennis. The event has been held at every Summer Olympics where tennis has been on the program: from 1896 to 1924 and then from 1988 to the current program. A demonstration event was held in 1968.
This was the first Olympics at which Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde played together. Woodbridge had played with John Fitzgerald in 1992. Since pairing with Woodforde, the Australians had won four consecutive Wimbledone titles. They were heavy favorites in the Olympic tournament.[1] 1992 silver medalist Wayne Ferreira of South Africa returned, this time paired with (unrelated) Ellis Ferreira rather than Piet Norval. Bronze medalist Javier Frana of Argentina also returned with a new partner, Luis Lobo.
Chinese Taipei, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, the Ivory Coast, Slovakia, and Venezuela each made their debut in the event. Great Britain made its eighth appearance in the event, most of any nation.
Competition format
editThe competition was a single-elimination tournament. A bronze-medal match was reintroduced after not being held in 1988 or 1992. All matches except the final were best-of-three sets, down from best-of-five in previous Games; the final remained best-of-five. Tiebreaks were used for any set before the final set that reached 6–6.
Schedule
editAll times are Eastern Daylight Time (UTC-4)
| Date | Time | Round |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, 25 July 1996 Friday, 26 July 1996 |
Round of 32 | |
| Saturday, 27 July 1996 Sunday, 28 July 1996 |
Round of 16 | |
| Monday, 29 July 1996 | Quarterfinals | |
| Wednesday, 31 July 1996 | 11:00 13:00 |
Semifinals |
| Thursday, 1 August 1996 | 17:00 | Bronze medal match |
| Friday, 2 August 1996 | 15:00 | Final |
Seeds
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Todd Woodbridge / Mark Woodforde (AUS) (champions)
Grant Connell / Daniel Nestor (CAN) (second round)
Jacco Eltingh / Paul Haarhuis (NED) (semifinals)
Jonas Björkman / Nicklas Kulti (SWE) (first round)
Jiří Novák / Jan Vacek (CZE) (quarterfinals)
Ellis Ferreira / Wayne Ferreira (RSA) (quarterfinals)
Javier Frana / Luis Lobo (ARG) (first round)
Byron Black / Wayne Black (ZIM) (second round)
Draw
editKey
edit- Q = Qualifier
- WC = Wild card
- LL = Lucky loser
- Alt = Alternate
- SE = Special exempt
- PR = Protected ranking
- ITF = ITF entry
- JE = Junior exempt
- w/o = Walkover
- r = Retired
- d = Defaulted
- SR = Special ranking
Finals
edit| Semifinals | Final (gold-medal match) | ||||||||||||||
| 1 | Todd Woodbridge (AUS) Mark Woodforde (AUS)
| 6 | 5 | 18 | |||||||||||
| 3 |  Jacco Eltingh (NED) Paul Haarhuis (NED)
| 2 | 7 | 16 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Todd Woodbridge (AUS) Mark Woodforde (AUS)
| 6 | 6 | 6 | |||||||||||
| Neil Broad (GBR) Tim Henman (GBR)
| 4 | 4 | 2 | ||||||||||||
 Marc-Kevin Goellner (GER) David Prinosil (GER)
| 6 | 3 | 8 | ||||||||||||
| Neil Broad (GBR) Tim Henman (GBR)
| 4 | 6 | 10 | Bronze-medal match | |||||||||||
| 3 | Jacco Eltingh (NED) Paul Haarhuis (NED)
| 2 | 5 | ||||||||||||
| Marc-Kevin Goellner (GER) David Prinosil (GER)
| 6 | 7 | |||||||||||||
Top half
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Bottom half
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References
edit- ^ a b c "Doubles, Men". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 December 2020.