Rafael Nadal Wins Gold Medal in Beijing 2008: The magical season continues for “El Matador Espanol” Rafael Nadal, as he upgrades his resume yet again. Rafa can now add “2008 Beijing Olympic Gold Medallist” to his list of accomplishments for 2008, but that’s not all. By defeating Fernando Gonzalez of Chile 6-3, 7-6 (2), 6-3, in the gold medal round, Nadal became the first top-5 player ever to win a Gold Medal, and the first to bring tennis Gold to his country of Spain.

At BodogLife.com, Rafael Nadal was -800 betting odds favorite to defeat Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez (+475) and win a Gold Medal in the Beijing 2008 Men’s Singles Tennis.

On August 18, 2008, Rafael Nadal will finally become the world’s No. 1 ranked player. This means that Roger Federer’s 4½ year reign as the top-seeded player will officially be over in less than 24-hours.

After his victory on Sunday, the great Spaniard reflected a bit on the year that has been: “Nowhere in my best dreams I can imagine something like what I did this year… I know how difficult it is to win these things, and especially here, because you only have one chance every four days.”

In the Women’s all-Russian Singles finals, Elena Dementieva continued her superb play by defeating Dinara Safina by 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. In Women’s Doubles, the Williams sisters (Serena and Venus) of the USA remained perfect in Olympic competition by beating the Spanish duo of Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano in straight sets (6-2, 6-0).

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