Sánchez Vicario, Arantxa

b. 1971, Barcelona

   Tennis player

   The youngest ever Spanish senior tennis champion at the age of fourteen in 1985, Sánchez Vicario became the world number two player in 1993. By then, having turned professional in 1986, she had, among other achievements, won the Roland Garros in 1989, and a bronze and a silver medal for singles and doubles respectively in the Barcelona Olympic Games of 1992. In 1994 she gained two more grand slam titles, the Roland Garros and the US open, as well as becoming the ITF World Tennis Champion and retaining her world number two placing. Beaten by her main rival Steffi Graf in the Wimbledon final of 1996, she gained a silver and a bronze medal for singles and doubles respectively at the Atlanta Olympics, and shared the world number two placing with Monica Seles.

   See also: tennis

   EAMONN RODGERS