“Mike had this mint-condition gold medal, my ribbon was tattered, I did the switch-a-roo" - Bob Bryan on stealing brother's 2012 Olympic medal

Bob Bryan recently opened up about swapping his brother and doubles partner Mike Bryan's 2012 Olympic gold medal with his medal.

Mike and Bob Bryan, also known as the Bryan Brothers, are the most successful doubles pair in tennis history. Together, they have won 16 Grand Slam men's doubles titles. They also have a bronze and a gold Olympics medal.

The brothers held the World No. 1 doubles ranking jointly for 438 weeks and a record 139 consecutive weeks. They also finished as the year end World No. 1 doubles team for 10 times.

Recently, Mike Bryan shared a humorous anecdote about his brother Bob. He said that, after winning their gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics, Bob decided to share his medal with fans for them to look at it, causing it to be passed around, dropped, and be worn down. Mike remarked that after all the handling, the circular medal had almost turned square.

“I remember your gold medal. It had so many scuffs on it, it wasn’t even a circle anymore. You were handing it out to so many fans, they were dropping it, and it was almost a square,” Mike said on the 'Served with Andy Roddick' podcast as quoted by tennis.com.

Mike also revealed that Bob, unhappy with the condition of his medal, visited him at his home in California, swapped his square medal with Mike's, and returned to Florida.

“I kept mine at my house, I shined it up, it was in the front, I had lights shining on it — and then Bob did the old switch-a-roo, came out to California and put his little square, it wasn’t even gold it looked silver, and then took my gold out to Miami,” he added.

Bob Bryan in response, defended his actions by stating that he simply wanted a fresh-looking gold medal and preferred his brother's over his battered one.

“Mike had this mint-condition gold medal in the safe, my ribbon was all tattered, so I did the switch-a-roo. I wanted a fresh one,” Bob said.

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Mike and Bob Bryan won Olympic medals twice in their career

Bob Bryan (left) and Mike Bryan with their bronze medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Mike and Bob Bryan won medals at the Olympics twice in their career. Their first medal, a bronze, was earned at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The brothers kicked off their men's doubles campaign with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 victory over Mark Knowles and Devin Mullings in the opening round.

They continued their winning streak by defeating Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer 7-6 (2), 6-4 in the second round, to secure a spot in the quarterfinals. Then the brothers defeated the Australian pair of Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione 6-4, 6-3 to move into the semifinals.

Their journey to the podium faced a setback when they were defeated 7-6 (6), 6-4 by eventual gold medalists, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, in the semifinals. However, Mike and Bob Bryan bounced back in the bronze medal match, triumphing 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 over the French duo of Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra, securing their first Olympic medals.

The Bryan Brothers' next Olympic medals came at the 2012 London Olympics. They began their campaign by defeating the Brazilian pair of Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa 7-6 (5), 6-7, 7-3 in the first round. This was followed by a 7-6 (6), 7-6 (1) victory over Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny in the second round.

Then they won over Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram 7-6 (4), 7-6 (10) in the quarterfinals, and Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals. In the final match, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan emerged victorious against the French pair of Michael Llodra and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6–4, 7–6 (2) to win the gold medal.