Rio’s 100-degree temperatures this year and London’s clouds and rain in 2012 played a large role in determining which uniforms women’s beach volleyball players wanted to use. It felt like a World Series game, and, in a way, it was.
Advertisement
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 17, 2016 – Three-time Olympic Beach Volleyball champion Kerri Walsh Jennings had to settle for a bronze medal on Copacabana here late Wednesday evening, but one rally in her three-set win with American partner April Ross will be remembered as the most remarkable in her summer Games career that has spanned five quadrennials.
Beach volleyball was hands down one of the most anticipated Olympic events as three-time time gold medal victor Kerri Walsh Jennings defended her gold.
The home team won the first set 22-20, then pulled out to a big lead at the start of the second set, which they won 21-18. The duo won all of their pool play matches and bested top-seeded Brazilians Larissa and Juliana in the semifinals to advance to the gold medal match where she took silver.
Walsh Jennings and Ross put the first point on the board in the third set and held a one-point advantage until Brazil took the lead at 4-3 after an attack from Walsh Jennings missed long off the back court.
But this time, the road to the Olympics was much tougher. “There’s hope for us”.
Instead, it was a battle for bronze, the world No. 1-ranked team versus the defending Olympic gold and silver medalists (gold for Walsh Jennings, silver for Ross).
“She turned into a beast, a beast of them all”, Walsh Jennings said of Ross. “We heard cheering for good volleyball”. That came at the end of pool play. It didn’t make me nervous.
“It makes me very proud because I’ve done it along side people that I truly love and respect and admire and they make me better”, she said.
The problem, Walsh-Jennings said, was herself. She shanked a few. Although for Kerri Walsh Jennings, you wondered if they ever would. “And inexcusable.” She wasn’t too sure the better team won, either. Walsh Jennings has a nickname: Six Feet of Sunshine.
“It’s a bad feeling”, she said, taking the blame for the loss by saying her failure to pass effectively put her partner in a bind. When asked to summarize her performance after the game, she told USA Today that it was “rocky” and went on to explain why. Soon after, she transitioned to beach volleyball and teamed up with former partner Misty May-Treanor. She hugged a few friends, then walked past a bar on the other side of a fence, where a group of Americans rose and gave her a standing ovation.
Advertisement
The crowd, waving Brazil’s green, yellow and blue flag, screamed and danced to samba, Brazilian funk, and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as their team advanced.
