He has won the 2009 Australian Open, the first male Spaniard to do so. More recently, in 2008, Sastre became the seventh and third consecutive Spaniard to win the Tour de France, then followed by Contador winning his second tour in 2009's edition. Spain has produced several other world number one players such as Arantxa Sánchez Vicario in 1995 (also a 3 times French Open champion in 1989, 1994 and 1998 and 1994 US Open Champion), Carlos Moyá in 1999 (1998 French Open champion) Juan Carlos Ferrero in 2003 (2003 French Open Champion) and Garbiñe Muguruza (2016 French Open and 2017 Wimbledon). He also won the Giro d'Italia in two consecutive years (1992 and 1993), the 1995 Road World Championship time trial and the gold medal in the 1996 Olympic time trial. The defending champs gave their first line sufficient rest and it showed as Spain had that little bit extra at the end of each half. A brilliant penalty shot from Zlatko Horvat and a blaster from Duvnjak that clocked 111km/h brought it back to 16-14 to keep them within touching distance. Alejandro Valverde was the winner of the 2009 Vuelta a España, has won the one-day classic Liège–Bastogne–Liège four times, and in 2018 became World Road Race Champion after having previously finished second or third six times. "It's so many emotions at the same time, we didn't deserve to miss out on Rio two years ago... we've worked hard for this" - Gonzalo Perez de Vargas. During the 2000s, Spanish swimmer Gemma Mengual has heralded a series of both individual and team medals for Spain in all the major international synchronized swimming tournaments, including the silver medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. In the Atlanta 1996 the Spanish team won the first gold medal of the new competition by groups. [2] Other Spanish synchronised swimmers to enjoy success in international competition since the emergence of Mengual include Paola Tirados, Andrea Fuentes, the most decorated swimmer in the history of the Spain national team,[3] Ona Carbonell and Margalida Crespí. In the twenty-six tournaments held, eleven nations have won the title. Vamos!" Spain has also hosted a number of international events such as the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona and the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Spain made it two in a row in the EHF Euro 2020 against a Croatian side in a cliffhanger final. Spain has found more success in the group competition than at the individual one, the country won many medals and gained prominence in the 90's which has its peak at the Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta 1996, after the world championships at home in Seville 1998 the group went downhill and had inconsistent results until 2012 when they finished at the 4th place at the Olympic Games in 2012 London Olympics and a performance they would repeat at the 2013 World Championships in Kiev where the Spanish group won the gold at the 10 clubs final and a bronze in the 3 balls + 2 ribbons final, their firsts world championships medals in 15 years, at the 2014 World Championships in Izmir, Turkey they retained their world title in the 10 clubs final. Skiing is a popular sport. Spain has produced a number of tennis champions, excelling in tournaments held on clay courts such as the Roland Garros tournament. The final score was 22-20 (12-11) to Spain. There are a number of courses located in different parts of Spain. The most successful team is Sweden who have won four … Las 5 medallas conseguidas por Maider, fueron como suplente del conjunto en ambos ejercicios, aunque fue convocada a estos campeonatos. The Spanish team was formed by Estela Giménez, Marta Baldó, Nuria Cabanillas, Lorena Guréndez, Estíbaliz Martínez and Tania Lamarca. Rhythmic gymnastics is a popular sport through all Spain, so far the most successful individual rhythmic gymnasts are Carolina Pascual who won a silver medal in the individual all around competition in Barcelona 1992, Carmen Acedo who won gold medal in clubs competition in World Championships in 1993 and Almudena Cid this last is the only rhythmic gymnast who has competed at four olympic finals, placing 9th at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 being 8th at Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008. Skiers who have won races in the Alpine Skiing World Cup include Carolina Ruiz Castillo, María José Rienda, and siblings Blanca and Francisco Fernández Ochoa. Spain are European champions again after an explosive final against Croatia in Stockholm, Sweden. At the beginning of the second half Croatia were penalised and down a man for two mintues and the Spanish made them pay. Mengual's coach, Ana Tarrés, who herself represented Spain in the sport at the 1984 Summer Olympics, also served as coach of the national team from 1997 to 2012: during her time in charge the team enjoyed great success, taking four Olympic medals, 26 World Championship medals, and 25 European Championship medals.