By Karen Rosen

Serena Williams picked out a gold scrunchie to tie back her hair for the Olympic women's singles tennis final, remembering Michael Johnson and his gold shoes at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.

She chooses her accessories well. A little more than an hour after taking Centre Court, Williams was wearing gold around her neck, too.

She achieved the elusive Golden Slam -- winning all four major tournaments plus the Olympic gold medal -- with the most dominating singles win in Games history. Overcoming windy conditions at the All-England Lawn Tennis Club, Williams blew Russian Maria Sharapova off the court, 6-0, 6-1, in 63 minutes.

"I've always wanted to win a gold medal secretly," said Williams, 30, who had already won two Olympic doubles golds (2000 and 2008) with older sister, Venus Williams, and will compete for a third doubles title today (Aug. 5). Serena Williams became the first American woman to win the Olympic singles crown since 2000 when Venus Williams was the champion.

"I've always said it doesn't matter because I already have a gold medal -- and I really believed that and I really felt that -- but deep, deep, deep, deep down I wanted it in singles as well and I got it. It's such an amazing feeling. I can't compare it. I have it. I have them all."

Serena Williams, who won her 14th career Grand Slam on the same court at Wimbledon in July, extended her 17-match winning streak in convincing fashion, earning 10 points before Sharapova scored her first.

"She has such great form," said Sharapova, who won the French Open to complete her own career Grand Slam in June. "She was just too stubborn, too strong for me today."

After serving two aces to finish the match, Williams started jumping up and down, then did an impromptu dance.

"I didn't know what else to do," said Williams, who also did a little strut before getting on the victory podium. "I was so happy, the next thing I know, I started bouncing and moving and I didn't plan it. It just happened."

During the victory ceremony, it looked like the American flag was trying to make Williams' acquaintance. As the anthem played, Old Glory suddenly broke free and fluttered toward her on the podium before disappearing behind a wall. The crowd gasped, but Williams just shrugged.

The flag stayed put when brothers Bob and Mike Bryan won the Olympic doubles title a few hours later. The Bryan brothers are three-time Olympians and earned the bronze medal four years ago in Beijing. The duo beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Michael Llodra of France 6-4, 7-6 (2).

"We've spent 50,000 hours together, and probably 30,000 on the court, working our butts off to get here," Bob Bryan said. Mike Bryan will compete for his second Olympic medal at these Games when he returns to the court with Lisa Raymond today in the mixed double tournament. The American duo lost to Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, 6-3, 6-4, (10)-(7) Saturday evening and will face Germany's Sabine Lisicki and Christopher Kas in the bronze-medal match.

Both the Bryan brothers and Serena Williams now have completed the career Golden Slam, winning all four majors and the Olympic gold medal.

Williams is only the second woman to complete a career Golden Slam, joining Steffi Graf, who won all five tournaments in 1988. Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal have also accomplished the feat, but by winning tournaments in different years.

Later that afternoon, Serena and Venus Williams combined forces to defeat Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko of Russia 7-5, 6-4. to advance to the doubles final against Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka of Czech Republic.

Two years ago, Serena Williams had wondered if she'd ever play tennis again after health issues forced her to take almost a year off following her 2010 Wimbledon victory. She had foot surgeries and an operation to remove blood clots in her lungs.

Injuries, she said, have been "disastrous" for her. "I feel like I could have more slams. I also think that I was fortunate enough to survive literally what I went through and it made me a better person and possibly a better player."

 

Originally published by USOC (http://www.teamusa.org)

 

 

Serena Williams Achieves Golden Slam