‘Winning gold was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had on a tennis court’

Compatriots at the height of their powers, German duo Boris Becker and Michael Stich's intense rivalry drove each of them to their very best tennis in the early 1990s, and to Olympic gold in the men's doubles at Barcelona 1992. Here, both men tell their side of the story.

Boris Becker

I was in the team in 1984 and I broke my ankle for the Olympics where tennis was a demonstration sport. In 1988 in Seoul, I hurt my ankle again so I couldn’t make it. In 1992, I managed. And then in 1996 I was in the team, but I was also injured. So, I was in the team four times but managed to play one time and I got the gold.

You must remember the Olympics were in Barcelona, the headquarters of Spanish tennis are in Barcelona, [Sergio] Casal and [Emilio] Sanchez are the No. 1 doubles team in the world and happened to be from Barcelona, so you can imagine the support they received when they stepped on the court [for the quarter-final].

Michael [Stich] and myself in those days were not on speaking terms because we were battling each other in the Wimbledon final and quarterfinal, so were not the best of mates at all. But our captain Niki Pilic realised that we had to talk a little bit to win that match, so he sat us together the night before and just said, “Listen boys, if you want to get the medal, if you want to beat the home crowd favourites, you have got to play as a team and talk to one another,” and that’s what we did. So we ended up beating them in five sets and it was the most amazing doubles we ever played.

The thing with the quarter-final was that we wanted to get a medal. We both lost in singles and we knew we had to qualify for the semi-final at least to get a medal, so once we were in the semi-finals half the pressure was already out because we succeeded. But obviously once you are in the semi-finals you want to play for gold, so our main motivation was, “Let’s win this one, let’s get the chance to play for gold.”

We knew that we are good singles players and we knew that because of our style, serve and volley, we are going to play good in doubles. We played Davis Cup before so we knew how each other played, but we were just such big rivals individually that we couldn’t put it aside. But we both realised that he needs me and I need him to win a medal and that’s what happened.

Winning gold was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had on a tennis court. I didn’t think before I entered the Olympics that it would feel that good. As a tennis player you focus on the Grand Slams, and the Olympics was sort of a new thing for us.

When we got to the Olympic Village, you are sitting with the German team, everybody at night talks about their trials and tribulations and whether they won a medal for Germany. The more we were in the Olympic Village, the more we were confronted with that. We really also wanted to win a gold medal in tennis, so that was amazing.

It’s a very different reaction because you are representing a country, not playing for yourself. Even in doubles you represent another teammate. But then when we stepped on the podium, the German anthem was played, the flag goes up and that’s very moving. That’s when it really hits you that this is unique, this is for the history books.

It stands with my Grand Slam titles, definitely. The Olympic gold is one of my greatest achievements. If I talk about my Wimbledon success and reaching No. 1, I talk about my Olympic gold.

‘We knew we had achieved something very special for us and for Germany as well’

Michael Stich

If I look at the pictures and the videos now, I think it just shows pure happiness and our complete relief after winning the match point and also that we knew we had achieved something very special for us and for Germany as well. Reaching our goal as a team made it so special for me. It was a tough match in the finals, but we were the favourites and just so happy to bring home gold. Boris [Becker] and I were opponents throughout the rest of the year but at that moment we managed to work together as a team and create success.

We were not the best of friends, but we had the highest respect for each other on the tennis court. We knew what we were capable of. We got together and realised we could only do this as a team. In spite of all the discussion that we didn’t get along, we just showed that being professional and having a lot of respect for each other makes anything possible. Looking back now, getting older and being a little bit more at ease, it makes it so much more special. I’m very grateful to Boris that we did that together.

It was only the second time tennis was an official competition at the Olympics. For me at the time, if somebody said you can exchange that gold medal for a win at the US Open or the French Open, I would have done it. But now after my career and looking back at it, I would never exchange it with anything. There is nothing bigger in sport than winning a medal at the Olympics. Maybe it needs a certain age and level of experience to realise how big the Olympics are.

Winning the gold medal is definitely one of the biggest successes I’ve ever had.  My hometown made a special reception for me. We [the hometown] had horseback riders winning the Olympic gold medal and other medals before. Anyhow it was something very special because in most people’s opinions an Olympic gold medal is the biggest thing to achieve in sports.

In the beginning as tennis players, we were not seen from other sports as real Olympians because we were professionals in our sport and we made a lot of money. I stayed in the Village with all the other athletes from Germany, we really created a good atmosphere and they realised that we were there for the same reason. They respected us at the end, and they were really happy for us to win the gold medal.

One day I stood at the restaurant buffet and I looked down and saw a shoe sized 56 or something like that. Then I looked up and it was the biggest woman basketballer from China, two metres 20. I thought I was tall but I felt very short and small at the time. That’s the idea of the Olympics: everyone comes together, shares the same vision and that becomes very clear when you go to the same restaurant. No matter where you are from, which sport you do, it’s just a big family and I really cherished that.

I have my medal in my home. I have a study, a big bookcase and it is displayed there – along with a photo of me and Boris – so I can look at it every single day.