Own the Podium: Brad Gilbert

‘I still think about it – if I could just change one result…’

Brad Gilbert reflects on his bittersweet Olympic memories at Seoul 1988, the most enjoyable period of his career that ended with his one lingering regret and a men's singles bronze medal - lessons that he passed on as coach to Andre Agassi, who went on to win gold at Atlanta 1996.

The whole experience was amazing – it was a surreal experience. Because as a kid in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s, Olympics were like a huge event, a huge TV event, something you always dreamed about being a part of, but as a tennis player it was basically in your thought process that there was no tennis.

I think it was the greatest experience of my career just being a part of the 17 days and I still think about it – if I could just change one result, because the craziest thing was three or four weeks later, I beat them [silver medallist Tim Mayotte and gold medallist Miloslav Mecir] in back-to-back rounds in Bercy.

I got to the semi-finals and I was thinking I could win this thing and I think I made myself a little bit tight and I lost to Mayotte. I ended up getting a bronze and I was happy about it, but yet I felt like I missed an opportunity.

It was something I’ll never forget. It may be my most enjoyable 17 days of my career. It was only topped by Andre [Agassi]’s experience of winning the gold in ’96 because it was my biggest regret as a tennis player. I told Andre, because he asked me about that – and I said, “You know what, if you can win the Olympics it is something you will cherish forever,” and so he made it his mission to win that in ’96. Those are maybe my two top moments in tennis. I was coaching Andre when he won the gold in ’96.

I didn’t really think about anything other than the whole journey of it: I’m going to go and have a good experience. My tennis actually at that whole point was in the dumper because I was coming back from ankle surgery, my movement wasn’t what it was, and my confidence was a little low and that event did give me confidence.

I remember going in the eating room and there was like a giant McDonald’s in there, and I was like, I guess they were the big sponsor, but I was like, “What’s McDonald’s doing in there?” You know, I like Korean food a lot. My first thought was, “Where’s the Korean barbecue?” I love Korean barbecue. I had to bust out a few times to go get the good Korean food.

One of the great things that I really enjoyed in Seoul was that I got a bike because you could go all around the Village. I ended up at the end of it getting my bike stolen because I forgot to lock it. But I went to every event possible. If I wasn’t playing, I went. I did the same thing when I was coaching Andre in ’96. When I wasn’t at tennis it was like, “Okay, I’m going to go to wrestling. I’m going to go to weightlifting.” And you know what, stay in the Village. It’s not going to be your usual, what you’re used to. But you know what, embrace the experience.