Venus Williams and Serena Williams won the gold medal in women’s doubles tennis at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics on August 17, 2008, defeating Virginia Ruano Pascual and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain.  This is the second gold medal in doubles for the Williams sisters, who also won at the Sydney 2004 Summer Olympics.

For the second time in two tries, Venus and Serena won the doubles gold, beating a team from Spain here Sunday at the Olympic tennis complex. They did the same thing eight years ago in Sydney. And they did it in similar fashion Sunday.

Sunday’s final was 6-2, 6-0 over Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual. The final in Sydney was 6-1, 6-1 over the Dutch team of Kristie Boogert and Miriam Oremans.

Both matches took about an hour. Neither was dripping with drama.

The second set Sunday took 29 minutes, most of it consisting of Venus Williams — the best player on the court by far this day — cranking service returns for winners or poaching for put-away volleys.

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The victory by the Williams sisters made it five of six for U.S. women since tennis rejoined the Olympics in Seoul in 1988. Pam Shriver and Zina Garrison won then, followed by Gigi Fernandez and Mary Joe Fernandez, not related, in the next two Olympics, followed by the Williamses in 2000.

In Athens, Serena Williams decided not to play at the last minute, and Venus played with Chanda Rubin and lost in an early round. The Chinese team of Li Ting and Sun Tian-Tian won, beating Ruano Pascual and Conchita Martínez.

Sunday’s victory allowed the Williams sisters a well-deserved moment of mutual admiration.

Of playing with Serena, Venus said, “It never grows old. I was literally born with a doubles partner. She never minds if I miss a shot or two.”

Serena said, “I don’t know anyone who would get tired of playing with Venus Williams.”

Source: Venus and Serena Williams take doubles Olympic gold

Click here to watch NBC Video: Venus Williams and Serena Williams Win Gold Medal in Women’s Doubles

Venus and Serena Williams, in their late 20s and with plenty of time left to change the history of tennis, were quizzed Sunday, after winning their Olympic doubles gold medal, about a future gold standard in the sport.

Did they realize, they were asked, that each was one major win away from a standard achieved by only two people in the world to date — victories in singles in each of the Grand Slam tournaments (Australian, French, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open,) plus an Olympic gold medal?

The two people, of course, are married to each other — Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf. Graf did hers all in one year, the Seoul Olympic  year of 1988. If she had done something like that in baseball or pro football, it would be talked about in whispered tones, a la Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak.

But it’s tennis, and the world yawns.

Venus Williams could match that by winning the French Open, the one gap in her resume. Serena has won all the majors, but lacks an Olympic gold.

“I never really thought about that,” said Serena, who said earlier last week that she and Venus would be in London for the 2012 Games. “We just try to win in every event we can.”

Venus said: “I see it a little differently. I see that Serena has two gold medals” in doubles.

Source: Some history for Serena and Venus Williams

Photo credit: Clive Rose/Getty Images AsiaPac

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Photos: Venus Williams, Serena Williams Win Gold Medal in Doubles 2008 Summer Olympics Beijing