Tennis anyone? 19 years ago XXVI Olympiad Tennis Commemorative Silver Dollar Coin

Today, the XXVI Olympiad Tennis Commemorative Silver Dollar Coin remembers the tennis news of March 18, 1996.

On that day, the US Olympics announced from White Plains, New York:

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Tom Gullikson and Billie Jean King will coach the US men’s and women’s Olympic tennis teams for the 1996 Games at Atlanta, USTA president Les Snyder announced Monday.

King, winner of 71 career singles titles including 12 Grand Slam singles, was captain of the Federation Cup team that reached the final last year.

Gullikson, who captained the US Team to the Davis Cup last year, has been a coach in the USTA’s Development Program since 1988.

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Later in the month, another news report added:

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Scoring an ace

Former professional players Tom Gullikson and Billie Jean King have been named the men’s and women’s coach for the US Olympic tennis team. The coaches will select top US players for the Olympic team based on world rankings which will be released April 29.

To be eligible to compete in Atlanta, a player must have made themselves eligible to play in the Davis cup or Fed Cup competition for two years between 1993 and 1996. One of the years must be 1995 or 1996.

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Prior to the games, the Atlanta Olympic Committee planned and negotiated a new hard court tennis center at Stone Mountain.

During the games, seven nations ranked with one or more medals: United States, Australia, Spain, Czech Republic, Great Britain, German and India.

For the first time in 1996, the Olympic Games provided a bronze medal in addition to gold and silver for each of the four events—men’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s singles and women’s doubles.

As the host country, the US tennis team won three gold medals during the 1996 Olympic games.

Andre Agassi won gold for men’s singles, Lindsay Davenport won gold for women’s singles, and Gigi Fernandez and Mary Joe Fernandez won gold for the women’s doubles play.

The other ranked nations won:

Australia—one gold for men’s doubles

Spain—two silver (men’s singles and women’s singles) and one bronze (women’s doubles)

Czech Republic—one silver (women’s doubles) and one bronze (women’s singles)

Great Britain—one silver (men’s doubles)

Germany—one bronze (men’s doubles)

India—one bronze (men’s singles)

The XXVI Olympiad Tennis Commemorative Silver Dollar Coin shows against a background of part of a tennis ball.

XXVI Olympiad Tennis Commemorative Silver Dollar Coin