"Tears in my eyes, it was an out of body experience" - When Andre Agassi recalled his Olympic triumph in Atlanta

Andre Agassi once spoke about what it meant to win an Olympic medal in an earlier interview.

Agassi competed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and entered the men's singles event as the top seed. He reached the final following wins over Jonas Bjorkman, Karol Kucera, Andre Gaudenzi, Wayne Ferreira and Leander Paes.

In the title clash, Agassi faced two-time French Open champion Sergi Bruguera and won in straight sets to claim the gold medal.

The former World No. 1 recalled his achievement while speaking to CNN in 2012. He said that being on the Olympic podium was a boyhood dream and described the occasion as an "out of body experience."

“Being on that podium was a boyhood dream. The medal around the neck, the national anthem, tears in my eyes. It’s an out of body experience," the American said.

The Olympics was one of three titles that Andre Agassi won in 1996. He won two other tournaments, both notable ones. The American triumphed at that year's Lipton Championships (now known as the Miami Open) after his final opponent Goran Ivanisevic retired.

Agassi also won the Great American Insurance ATP Championships (now known as the Western & Southern Open) in Cincinnati by beating Michael Chang in the final. He finished the 1996 season as World No. 8 with 38 wins out of 52 matches. Agassi reached two Grand Slam semifinals that year at the Australian Open and US Open.

---

Andre Agassi remains the only American man to win an Olympic singles gold in the Open Era

Andre Agassi at the Netflix Slam 2024 in Las Vegas

Andre Agassi's Olympic triumph in 1996 is the only instance where an American male tennis player has won gold in singles in the Open Era. Beals Wright and Vincent Richards are the only other men from the United States to have achieved this feat. Wright won gold at the 1904 games in St. Louis while Richards triumphed at the 1924 Olympics in Paris.

In the Open Era, Tim Mayotte and Mardy Fish both won silvers. Mayotte lost to Miloslav Mecir in 1988 while Fish was beaten by Nicolas Massu in 2004.

The 1996 Olympics was the only edition of the sporting event where Agassi participated. That year, he also competed in the men's doubles event partnering MaliVai Washington. The pair won their first-round match against the Mexican duo of Alejandro Hernandez and Oscar Ortiz before being beaten by the South African pair of Wayne Ferreira and Ellis Ferreira.