LONDON, Aug 3
(Reuters) – Americans Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser, gold medallists in the
men’s beach volleyball in Beijing in 2008, were knocked out of the London
Olympics by a low-ranked Italian pair on Friday in the biggest upset of the
tournament so far.
Rogers, 38, and
Dalhausser, 32, were considered strong medal contenders and had won all three
of their pool matches, dropping just one set along the way.
In contrast,
Italians Daniele Lupo, 21, and Paolo Nicolai, 23, had lost two out of their
three pool matches, finishing third of their group. They scraped into the
round-of-16 by winning a lucky loser match late on Thursday.
But the inspired
Italians played the match of their lives on Friday, landing one unstoppable
spike after another and relentlessly blocking the Americans’ usually powerful
attacks.
Rogers and
Dalhausser were defeated by two sets to nil on the score of 21-17, 21-19.
The
Californians, who maintain a calm and relaxed demeanor both on and off the
court, were remarkably philosophical about their loss just minutes later.
“I’ve
realised over the last eight years that the Olympics are cool, and it’s really
cool to win a gold medal, believe me, I know, but in light of what’s important
to me, personally, my relationship with my wife, my kids, my faith, that
Olympic loss or win pales in comparison,” said Rogers.
The Italians had
beaten Rogers and Dalhausser twice this year, but their relatively poor
performance during the pool phase, compared with three comfortable wins by the
Americans, meant that Friday’s result came as a big surprise to most.
The Italians
seemed almost dazed by their own performance.
“We’ve won
against them before, but every time it’s a battle. They’ve been idols for me
and it’s strange to beat them,” said Nicolai.
The Americans
did not seem as surprised as everyone else.
“They’re a
very, very good team. They’re younger. The tall guy is like Phil, the little
guy is like me, just 10 or 20 years younger, so,” said Rogers with a
chuckle.
Tall and small,
as defined by beach volleyball players, are relative concepts.
Nicolai is 2.03
metres tall while Lupo measures 1.95 metres tall. Lupo is presumably the
“little guy” referred to by Rogers, a diminutive 1.87 metres next to
Dalhausser, who towers over his team mate at 2.06 metres.
SANDSTORM
Earlier,
American women’s pair Jennifer Kessy and April Ross, former world champions,
had a two-sets-to-nil win over Swiss pair Simone Kuhn and Nadine Zumkehr.
Kessy and Ross
have spent much of their career in the shadow of compatriots Misty May-Treanor
and Kerri Walsh, the only pair to have won Olympic gold in beach volleyball
twice.
May-Treanor and
Walsh are again in the limelight in London as they bid for a third consecutive
gold, but Kessy and Ross have been looking strong and may well pose a serious
challenge to their U.S. rivals at a later stage.
May-Treanor and
Walsh play their first match of the knock-out phase against a Dutch team on
Saturday night.
But the
favourites in the women’s event are reigning world champions Larissa Franca and
Juliana Felisberta of Brazil, who thumped their way into the quarter finals on
Friday by beating Dutch pair Madelein Meppelink and Sophie van Gestel.
Larissa and
Juliana have dominated the women’s world tour for several years but they missed
out on the Beijing Olympics in 2008 after Juliana had to pull out with a knee
injury. Olympic gold is the only trophy they are missing and they want it
badly.
The Brazilians
won on Friday by two sets to nil on the score of 21-10, 21-17, but the Dutch
pair captured the crowd’s hearts with some heroic defensive diving.
When the teams
were level in the second set at 15-15, the four women played one of the best
points seen in the tournament so far, earning a deafening ovation from the
15,000 spectators.
With the
Brazilians on the attack, the Dutch sprinted across the sand and flung
themselves on the ground to successfully save three powerful spikes, regaining
the offensive only for the Brazilians to pull off an improbable save and win
the point.
“SANDSTORM!”
said the screens in the corners of the court.
The Dutch were
left splayed on the sand in exhaustion and the Brazilians fell into each
other’s arms for a bear hug. The crowd cheered and stamped their feet, punch
drunk from pop music, exuberant commentary and sunshine.
The Brazilians
sealed the set and the match by 21-17, but the gracious Dutch seemed pleased to
have put on a good show.
“We tried,
we tried, I crossed the whole court, we were just running, and it was a shame
that we didn’t make the point. But we made the crowd happy with a nice
rally,” said Meppelink in a classic example of understatement.
Article source: http://www.canada.com/American+champions+crash/7042440/story.html
