Wooden rackets and bullet-hard rubber balls have long given way to graphite frames and high-bouncing rallies, yet still the game continues to evolve. Rio 2016 mixed doubles champion Bethanie Mattek-Sands has always embraced change and now spends much of her time watching the young guns for tips.

Venus and Serena, Serena and Venus: the Olympic and global saga of the Williams sisters has made tennis history over the last two decades. It was Venus who first made her mark at the Games, winning the women’s singles at Sydney on 27 September 2000. Nineteen years later, she is the only five-time Olympic tennis medallist, and is hoping to do well again at Tokyo 2020!

Bolt. Messi. Phelps. Venus and Serena. Wiggins. Many of the top performers at the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 are so internationally famous that you need only one name to recognise them these days. Back then, however, many of them were just starting out on their sporting journeys. We take a look at where the big-hitters of that amazing summer in China have ended up.

Zimbabwean swimmer Kirsty Coventry, now a member of the IOC Athletes’ Commission, competed in the Olympic Games in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016, winning two golds, four silvers and a bronze. She was also the flag-bearer for her nation in 2012 and 2016. Here she explains why she never missed a single opening or closing ceremony.

Relive Sunday 14 August in Rio on olympic.org. A day of legends, with the incredible 400m world record by South African Wayde Van Niekerk; the triple over 100m by Jamaican Usain Bolt; the dramatic victory by Briton Justin Rose in the first Olympic golf tournament in 112 years; the historic achievements of Great Britain’s Andy Murray in tennis, Max Whitlock in gymnastics and Jason Kenny in track cycling; and Simone Biles continuing to add to her haul of gold…

Olympic.org takes a look at some of the notable performances by Youth Olympic Games (YOG) athletes over the last month, as they continue to make their mark at major international events

Olympic.org takes a look back at the highlights from the fourth day of competition in Rio on Tuesday 9 August 2016. Michael Phelps won two more gold medals in the space of an hour, in the 200m butterfly and the 4x200m freestyle, bringing his total medal haul to 22. The brilliant Simone Biles lit up the women’s team competition to help the United States to victory.

A look back at the second day of the Games in Rio, a year after that Sunday 7 August 2016 when Michael Phelps, who had come out of retirement to take part in his fifth Games, played a decisive role in the second leg of the 4x100m freestyle, helping the USA to beat France, unbeaten in the event since London 2012. Chinese diver Wu Minxia won her fourth consecutive title in the 3m synchronised diving; Korea’s female archers won their eighth title in eight editions; Majlinda Kelmendi gave Kosovo a flying start in the judo; and Simone Biles was already dazzling everyone!

We’re going back in time, to Rio 2016! Can you remember it? During the first day of competition already full of achievement and emotions, American shooter Virginia Thrasher won the first gold medal of the Rio Games; swimming records were already being broken; Belgium’s Greg Van Avermaet won the road cycling event; and judo, weightlifting, fencing and shooting saw their first Olympic champions on Carioca soil.

An adaptation of a very ancient sport, the jeu de paume, codified in England in the 1870s, tennis has become a major sport followed by millions of fans throughout the year. Present at the Games from 1896 to 1924, it made its official return to the programme in 1988, and the great Olympic stage has become a key point in the careers of the world’s best tennis players.