Makarova and Vesnina win gold for Russia at Rio 2016
Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova overcame Timea Bacsinszky and Martina Hingis 6-4 6-4 to win gold for Russia in the women's doubles at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The Russian duo, who endured a nightmare journey from their previous tournament in Montreal to the Brazilian capital, ended their week on a high with Russia's only medal in the tennis at this year's Games being of the golden variety.
"We wanted the Olympic medal, especially gold medal of course, since we were juniors," said Makarova. "It was our dream from the kids. We really wanted to have a medal of Olympics.
"It's much more for us than the Grand Slam. We were all the time talking about that, that Grand Slams are great tournaments, we're so happy that we won two Grand Slams, but the Olympic Games for us means much more. We are playing for our country. We won the gold medal. It's an amazing feeling. Our dream came true."
Vesnina added: "We had a tough trip to make it here to Rio. We were really in stress in one moment when we missed our connection. We were trying to get here as early as we could because we played final in Montreal, we won the tournament there. We knew it's different courts, different balls. We wanted to get here as early as we could just to get ready.
"I think this situation even help us a little bit, you know, to be ready for everything in Rio. We stick together. We knew why we came here. We knew what we want. It's incredible that we won this gold medal at the end."
It is a third straight Olympic Games where Russia has won a medal in tennis and an eighth in total for the Eastern Europeans.
For Switzerland it was a first Olympic medal in women's tennis, following in the footsteps of their male counterparts Marc Rosset (gold at Barcelona 1992), Roger Federer (gold at Beijing 2008 and silver at London 2012) and Stan Wawrinka (gold at Beijing 2008).
It was also just Hingis' second Olympic appearance, coming some 20 years after her first.
"We're there together to fight through thick and thin," said an emotional Hingis after the match. "It doesn't matter. I mean, we're one team, we're one equipe. We made it on the court this far. I think we were very emotional in general.
"If it doesn't touch you at the Olympic Games, where does it want to touch you? I think this is the moment we can let go all the stress after this week. It's done and over. All the happiness and emotions come through to you. I think that's only human. That's who we are. We're proud of that, as well."
The bronze medal in women's doubles was decided yesterday in an all-Czech clash that saw Lucie Safarova and Barbora Strycova defeat Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Safarova 7-5 6-1.