Olympic premiere

Silver in tennis doubles is Russia’s first medal!

Mirra Andreyeva (17) and Diana Schnaider (20)(Bild: AFP)

Tennis doubles pair Mirra Andreyeva (17) and Diana Schnaider (20) have won silver at the Olympic Games in Paris, the first medal for the controversial group of Russian athletes!

The duo lost 6:2, 1:6, 7:10 in the final against the Italian pairing of Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani on Sunday. It was the first ever Italian gold medal in tennis, with Errani becoming the oldest player to triumph at the age of 37.

Only Capriati was younger than Andreeva
Only Jennifer Capriati was younger than Andreyeva when she won a medal at the Olympics 32 years ago at the age of 16 years and 132 days. Before that, Belarusian athletes had already won three medals. Among them was the Belarusian trampoline gymnast Ivan Litvinovich, who won gold. Athletes from Belarus and Russia are only allowed to compete at the Olympic Games as neutral individual athletes under the designation AIN. The reason for this is Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which is supported by Belarus.

According to official information, 32 athletes from both countries will be competing in Paris as AINs, 15 of whom come from Russia. The majority of the Russian participants are tennis professionals who also compete in international tournaments on the tennis tour. All of them had previously had to undergo a vetting process to rule out possible links to the armed forces and security authorities of both countries, among other things. Public support for the war would also have led to exclusion.