Redemption! Kerri Walsh Jennings has never left an Olympics without a gold medal, but this time she had to battle it out for bronze alongside partner April Ross.
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The last time these two met was at the Gstaad Major Series final when Larissa and Talita won 2-0. She previously teamed with Misty May-Treanor, who retired in 2013, for those medals.
Asked if she would return for a sixth Olympics in 2020, Walsh Jennings said, “I know I can”.
United States’ Kerri Walsh Jennings, right, and April Ross stand at the net after losing to Brazil during a women’s beach volleyball semifinal match at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2016.
“I haven’t spent one second thinking about that”, she said. “Say she digs a ball, I feel like I have the authority to go on two – instead of setting her, I can hit the ball over”.
“We had so many chances to take the match into our hands and do what we wanted, but we didn’t do that”, Ross said. Coming to Rio, Walsh Jennings, 38, and Ross, 34, had lost to Larissa and Talita four times in five FIVB World Tour matches this year – most recently just five weeks ago at the Gstaad Open in Switzerland.
“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.
The Tuesday action posted a 16.6 overnight rating and an 8.2 rating in among 18- to 49-year-olds.
Walsh Jennings and Ross will face that Brazilian team, which went into the tournament in Rio as the first seed, for the bronze medal Wednesday, while Agatha and Barbara will play the Germans for gold.
In the loss to Brazil, Walsh-Jennings wouldn’t place any blame on her partner. “We never got our mojo after that and that is why”.
A new approach to strength training.
Is this it for Kerri Walsh Jennings?
Walsh Jennings and Ross rallied to close to 14-13 when the Brazilians had an opportunity to slip away. That’s my ego talking, and that’s just ignorance to me.
“It was very poor execution on my part in the most fundamental part of the game”, she said. The Brazilian women entered the Olympic tournament as the top-seeded team while Walsh Jennings/Ross entered as the third seed. “I need to keep everything freely moving so nothing gets bound up”. Many an opponent has underestimated Jennings only to lose badly to her.
Maximizing her mental muscles.
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Ross and Walsh Jennings didn’t hear the boos though. She also uses a program called Versus. It feels insane half the time, but you’re doing these exercises and you’re just doing them with your brain. When it comes to strength, it’s your attitude through the highs and lows that makes you a star.
