My Olympics: Stan Wawrinka | ATP Tour

My Olympics

My Olympics: Stan Wawrinka

Swiss veteran reflects on his doubles gold medal with Roger Federer, team camaraderie and his respect for Usain Bolt

July 25, 2024

Stan Wawrinka partnered Roger Federer en route to a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Now aged 39, Wawrinka is set for his third Olympics appearance in Paris. 

ATPTour.com sat down with the three-time major champion to hear about his best memories from the prestigious event.

How does your Olympic success stick out in your career?
For me, it was my first big, big result, to be able to win a gold medal in the Olympics. The Olympics is not only special, it’s special because it’s every sport. It’s all of the athletes in every sport and it’s something that not only tennis fans watch, but fans of every sport are going to watch the Olympics in general.

The experience of playing there, being there in the Swiss house, having the chance to share with different athletes and looking at different sports, it’s always going to be an amazing memory for me.

Is there an Olympic athlete you enjoy in particular?
I think my first one was Beijing and Usain Bolt was something special there, let’s put it that way. Of course I enjoyed that a lot.

Is there an Olympic sport you think you would be good at besides tennis?
Absolutely not!

Is there one you would be bad at?
Many! I think that’s also the beauty of the Olympics, you have the chance to watch a different sport, also sports that you don’t necessarily watch during the year so I think it’s a good time if you’re a sports fan.

Does anything stick out from when you were at the Olympics?
For me, the best feeling was to share with the Swiss athletes because we spent a lot of time at the house with them. It’s more about sharing with different athletes and coaches and talking about different sports but at the end, it’s talking about the mentality and the way we like our sports.

When you were a kid, did you watch the Olympics and want to be there one day?
Yeah, of course. I think the Olympics are not only for tennis fans, but for sports fans in general. It’s a little bit of a dream of a lot of athletes to have the chance to compete there.