Doubles, Women

Because of injuries to Serena Williams, the Williams’ sisters were not back to defend their title. Venus Williams competed with Chanda Rubin, but they lost in the first round. The top seed was the Russian pair of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Yelena Likhovtseva, but they won only one match before going out. The final was won by the eighth seeds, Li Ting and Sun Tiantian of China. Prior to Athens, together they had played in only one Grand Slam tournament. They defeated the second seeds, the relatively ancient pair of Conchita Martínez and Vivi Ruano of Spain, whose combined age was 63 years in Athens. Ruano was a doubles specialist, who won 38 titles and eight Grand Slams in her career, always partnering Argentina’s Paola Suárez, which was not possible at the Olympics.