8 things that happened for the first time ever at the 2016 Rio Olympics

#2 Andy Murray becomes first male tennis player to win two consecutive men’s singles gold medals

Andy Murray won his second consecutive gold medal at the Games

The gold medal was destined to go his way, wasn’t it? Andy Murray had just brought glory to Great Britain by winning his second Wimbledon Men’s Singles title in July 2016. He went into the Olympics with the tennis hopes of Great Britain resting on his shoulders yet again and boy did Andy Murray deliver. Producing exhibition tennis, Andy Murray overcame a powerhouse in Juan Martin del Potro in the final to win consecutive singles gold medals at the Olympics.

On his way to this historic gold medal, Andy Murray defeated Viktor Troicki, Juan Monaco, Fabio Fognini, Steve Johnson, Kei Nishikori and Juan Martin del Potro. While the starting few matches were easy, in the gold medal contest he was up against a towering del Potro, who had beaten Rafael Nadal in the semi-final. What ensued was a gruelling four-hour thriller that neither of them would forget and the Briton emerged victorious in four sets, winning the contest 7-5, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5. Even the usually emotionless Murray was animated, thereby symbolising what the achievement meant to him.