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Wednesday, 23 June, 2004, 20:37 GMT 21:37 UK

Olympic countdown: 46 days

How Britain's 46 medals top the tennis table

Neil Broad (left) and Tim Henman Great Britain may not have had any player winning a grand slam or top of the world rankings recently, but it has won the most Olympic tennis medals.

Admittedly the majority of its 46 medals were won between 1896 and 1924, before tennis was dropped as an Olympic sport due to professionallism.

Kitty McKane won a gold, two silvers and two bronzes in 1920 and 1924.

And, after Olympic tennis returned in 1988, Tim Henman and Neil Broad won the men's doubles silver in 1996.

They were beaten in the final in Atlanta by Australian duo Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge - the most successful men's doubles partnership ever - 6-4 6-4 6-2.

Indeed Woodbridge had beaten Henman in two tie-break sets in the second round of the singles event.

And both Henman and Britain had a more miserable time in Sydney.

The British number one lost in the first round of the singles to Karol Kucera, with Barry Cowan and Greg Rusedski also making an early exit.

Cowan and Kyle Spencer battled bravely before losing to Russian duo Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who claimed gold in the singles.

And Julie Pullin and Lorna Woodroffe lost in the first round to eventual silver medallists Miriam Oremans and Kristie Boogerts of the Netherlands.

Oh for the early days of the modern Olympics when Irish-born Briton John Boland, who was on holiday in Greece in 1896, decided to enter the Games at the last minute.

He won the men's singles and, as was allowed at the time, teamed up with a German to win the men's doubles.

Britain's Charlotte Cooper was one of the first women to win an Olympic title in 1900 in the singles.

And brothers Reggie and Laurie Doherty claimed the men's doubles for Britain the same year, to add to the eight Wimbledon doubles titles they had already won.




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