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Federer wins "magical" Olympic gold medal

16/08/2008

Roger Federer got the Olympic gold medal that he so desperately wanted as he and Stanislas Wawrinka won the men's doubles.

The Swiss duo came through a tough battle against Swedish pair Thomas Johansson and Simon Aspelin to win 6-3 6-4 6-7 (4/7) 6-3.

Federer has had a difficult year in which he has failed to win any of three majors played so far and has also lost his world number one ranking to Rafael Nadal. The 27-year-old said at the beginning of the year that an Olympic gold medal in the singles was his priority for the year, but he was knocked out in that event by James Blake in the quarter-finals.

Some would see the doubles gold as a consolation prize for a man who has one almost everything there is to win in the game. But Federer was delighted with the win and described it as a "magical moment".

"It's a magical moment," Federer said. "Something incredible in my career, especially as we were both a bit down after losing in the singles. It's incredible that we managed to stay on track to win in doubles."

American doubles specialists Bob and Mike Bryan won the bronze medal with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory over France's Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra.

Elsewhere, world number three Novak Djokovic claimed the bronze in the singles after he beat Blake 6-3 7-6 (7-4).