This cache series is a celebration of the USA's victories in the 2012 London Olympics. Each cache will be named after gold medal winning athletes/teams or noteworthy accomplishments.
The twenty ninth cache in the series celebrates Venus and Serena Willimas (aka "The Williams Sisters") gold winning performance in the Women's Doubles Tennis competition.
Tennis (lawn tennis) was part of the Summer Olympic Games program from the inaugural 1896 Summer Olympics, but was dropped after the 1924 Summer Olympics due to disputes between the International Tennis Federation and the International Olympic Committee over allowing amateur players to compete. After two appearances as a demonstration sport in 1968 and 1984 it returned as a full medal sport at the 1988 Summer Olympics and has been played at every edition of the Games since then. Traditionally, tennis is played between two people in a singles match, or two pairs in a doubles match. Doubles is played by two players of two teams each, most often all-male or all-female. It utilizes a wider court than singles matches: it includes the area in the alley (tramlines, in British terminology), whereas singles does not. The two players on the receiving side change positions after each point played (one at the net and the other near the baseline, preparing to return serve). Mixed doubles (pairs with one man and one woman) was included in the 2012 Olympics for the first time since 1988.
The playing surface of the court varies between Olympic Games. It has been on hard court for every game since 1984 except for the 1992 Olympics (which was on a clay court) and the 2012 Olympics (which was played on a grass court). The changing playing surface gives certain players different advantages and disadvantages not seen in most other Olympic sports.
The Williams sisters are two professional American tennis players: Venus Williams born 1980, seven-time Grand Slam title winner (singles), both of whom were coached from an early age by their parents Richard Williams and Oracene Price. There is a noted professional rivalry between them – between the 2001 US Open and the 2009 Wimbledon tournaments, they have met in eight Grand Slam singles finals. They remain very close, often watching each other's matches in support, even after one of them has been knocked out of a tournament.
Both sisters have had the honor of being ranked by the Women's Tennis Association at the World No. 1 position. In 2002, after the French Open, Venus Williams and Serena Williams were ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively. During the 2010 French Open, they became the co-world no.1 players in women's doubles, in addition to holding the top two positions in singles tennis as well.
The Williams sisters are hardly new to the Olympics scene, having each won 4 gold medals in singles (1 each) and doubles (3 together). In their appearance at the Sydney games of 2000, Venus won the gold in the Women's singles competition and the pair brought home the gold in the doubles competition. Injuries caused them to miss the 2004 games in Athens, but they came back to reclaim the gold at the 2008 games in Beijing. As a duo, they have also completed the Career Golden Slam in doubles.
In London, the pair successfully defended their title, beating the Czech Republic's Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká in straight sets in the final. With this victory, Venus and Serena Williams became the only tennis players in Olympic history to win four medals, gold or otherwise and Serena became the first tennis player, male or female, to hold a career golden slam in singles and doubles.
Congratulations to Venus and Serena Williams, Olympic champions!
Since doubles is played with two, this is a two stage multi cache. The posted coordinates will take you to the first stage which is off of a dirt road. You will need to search to find the coordinates for the final stage. The final is also off of a dirt road and some minor bushwhacking is required at both stages. Please be sure to rehide both stages as good or better than you find it so they will remain hidden and provide the same challenge to future cachers. There shouldn't be many muggles near either stage so you should be able to search without much trouble. Parking is available on the side of the road near both stages. There may be poison ivy and thorns near the caches. We hid them in clean places but thorns and ivy were both spotted in the surrounding areas.
tessandfriends
andrewstevepotter
geoconsumer