For the first time in her Olympic career, Kerri Walsh Jennings will not be winning the gold.
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But the legend, who turned 38 on Monday, struggled receiving the serves from the second-seeded Brazilians. She and Misty May-Treanor won three consecutive Olympic gold medals from 2004 through 2012, where they didn’t lose a single match.
While the Olympic career of Walsh Jennings is not officially over, it is hard to imagine her coming back at age 42. “When she’s on it makes me better and she was on point all night”.
Walsh Jennings and new partner April Ross were relegated to the third-place game by Brazil’s reigning world champions, Bárbara Seixas and Ágatha Bednarczuk, who beat the Americans in two stunning straight sets.
And after a tight start, they took control of the final set and clinched it 15-9 when Walsh-Jennings blocked Rocha’s spike and Franca’s despairing dive couldn’t keep the ball alive.
The victory marked Walsh Jennings’ fourth Olympic medal, making her the oldest female medal victor in beach volleyball history and the fifth beach volleyball player to win medals with two different partners. “Maybe in four years they can all can go with me to Tokyo, but I’d be there as a commentator or a fan, not as a player”. “I think I was the most nervous for this match because we were in the semi and in front of this crowd”. Even though Jennings is much older than most of her competitors, she is lightening fast on the court.
“We were devastated the night before, literally devastated”, Walsh Jennings said. She shared with us three of the secrets that helped her get back to Rio for an unlikely fifth Games.
“It’s a awful feeling”, she said, taking the blame for the loss by saying her failure to pass effectively put her partner in a bind.
Though she still has a bronze medal match Wednesday night against Larissa and Talita of Brazil, her failure to capture that fourth gold already has people asking: Will she be back in four years? A serve into the net from Kerri Walsh Jennings and an unforced error from the US women gave the Brazilian women a two-point lead. Like Brazil, the Americans have now medaled in every Olympic Beach Volleyball competition since the introduction of the sport into the Summer Games program in 1996 at Atlanta.
“Scoring a goal that early was spectacular for us”, Brazil coach Rogerio Micale said.
Walsh Jennings wasn’t afraid to take responsibility for her part. The Brazilians led the tournament in aces entering Tuesday’s game, and you could see why.
April Ross and Kerri Walsh Jennings formed their partnership in the moments after the London gold medal match but didn’t begin competing internationally until 2013. “I don’t know if I will”. Instead, one will settle for bronze and the other will get nothing.
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Late in the first, the Brazilians’ tactics appeared to get to Walsh Jennings.
