Brazil’s Alison and Bruno Schmidt have sent the crowd at Copacabana into a frenzy by capturing the gold medal in the men’s beach volleyball.
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Brazil claimed their first beach volleyball gold in 12 years as Alison Cerutti and Bruno Oscar Schmidt won the men’s final at an electric Copacabana.
They become the second male beach volleyball Olympic champion Brazil after Athens 2004 winners Emanuel Rego and Ricardo Santos.
In a late match Thursday for the Rio 2016 Olympic bronze medal, second-seeded Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen posted a 2-0 (23-21, 22-20) win in 46 minutes over the eighth-seeded Viacheslav Krasilnikov and Konstantin Semenov of Russia to give the Dutch their fifth win in six worldwide meetings with the Russians.
The Italian men took an early lead in the first set while the Brazilians struggled to find their rhythm but Alison and Bruno Schmidt rallied back to take the lead at 11-10 as they entered the first technical timeout.
Italy opened a 5-1 lead but the hosts came back to win the first set.
However, Italy held tough and ripped off three straight points to knot things at 17 points apiece before taking a brief 19-18 lead.
Others covered their heads with the ever-present green and yellow flags but still managed to sing and samba the reigning world champions to victory.
As he has throughout the tournament, Alison egged on the crowd, pointing to his ear to encourage fans to yell louder after the Brazilians rallied from the early deficit.
While the sport was created in the U.S., Brazil is often considered the “spiritual home” of volleyball.
Even with the loss, it was cause for celebration in Europe.
With the Dutch bronze and Italian silver on the men’s side, the three medals were an Olympic high for the continent. The host nation is most decorated in terms of Olympic medals and has won at least one medal at every Games since the sport was added in 1996.
“Of course, it’s where the sport was invented”, he said.
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After surviving two set points, the Russian Viacheslav Krasilnikov threw his hat aside in disgust when the winning point sailed off his hand and out of bounds.
