Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 6, 2016 – Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez entered the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as the longest-tenured partnership in the quadrennial and the Spaniards’ experience paid dividends as they posted an opening Pool B win over Ana Gallay and Georgina Klug of Argentina here Saturday mid-day.
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American Beach Volleyball will look a little different at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Walsh Jennings says she’s healthy now, and since returning from shoulder surgery she and partner April Ross have steadily moved up the rankings on the worldwide tour.
Walsh Jennings posted 10 kills, eight blocks and six digs in the win and showed no signs of rust, or any lack of chemistry with Ross, who was on the team Walsh Jennings and May-Treanor defeated for gold in 2012 before sliding over to replace the retired May-Treanor. Walsh Jennings, 37, will be competing with April Ross, 34, this time. But yeah, the dream is to play the best. As they met to congratulate each other, Walsh Jennings whispered to Ross, “Let’s go win gold in Rio!” Walsh Jennings volunteered to make the switch. Ross and Jennifer Kessy won silver.
“I was pretty average height until I got to be a junior in high school, 5’8” my sophomore year. I just started thinking, what are my options? “We don’t want to peak right now, we want to keep going up, we feel so good and it felt good to get this under our belt”.
Before I had more kids, I was like, this feels trivial.
“I was never tall enough – to be quite honest with you”.
With any luck, Scout – who was just a five-week-old fetus during Walsh Jennings’ last Olympic games – will be able to watch her mom achieve some personal goals and clinch some world records in Rio. “My dad is 6’8” and such a powerful athlete. The Santa Clara, California native was on the indoor volleyball team in the 2000 Sydney Games.
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Walsh Jennings and team-mate Misty May-Treanor were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at the 2004, 2008, and 2012 Games.
