Phil Dalhausser blocked out the score, the sun and the sounds of the crowd that danced for Brazil while samba music shook the Olympic beach volleyball venue for the gold medal game.
Then he blocked just about everything else.
Rejecting four straight shots in the decisive set of the final on Friday to turn a tight match into a blowout, Dalhausser did it again on the championship point to give the Americans the sport’s first Olympic gold medal sweep.
“I got in a zone, I guess,” Dalhausser said. “I blocked it all out. It’s just one of those things where you see everything perfectly and it all seems to be in slow motion.”
Read it all. I caught it live during the morning run this morning–they played great. I especially enjoyed the after match interview in which they noted how much they benefited from losing early on to Latvia–a match I also caught.
They scarcely led the first set, though they won on 3rd set point, then got beat the second set, partly due to two or three aces served down the middle between the. I wonder if those serves might have been a wake-up as well, given the 3rd set. Of course, it was also true the Brazilians clearly ran out of steam in the heat.
Kendall, if you caught it this morning, you caught a repeat: It was live last night at 11:00pm your time.
It was clear the Brazilians’ only prayer was keeping the ball away from Phil Dalhausser on offense. About 95% of the time he had an opportunity to spike the ball, he did so with devastating effect. The guy is a one-man wrecking crew at the net. Kudos to both of them for a well-played match.
Can someone tell me why this “sport” is in the Olympics? Real volleyball is a complex, fast game and worth watching as well as playing. Beach volleyball is made for Californians who have nothing better to do with their time. Since the court is largely open, there is no reason for either side to lose a point except through carelessness. There is no need to spike the ball. A gentle pat puts the ball in any of the open spaces. Defense is close to impossible if the receiving side simply choses to dump the ball after the set. It’s fun to play because you only need four players – you can play with two, after all – but it’s not truly competitive. winning is too easy. Commonly, the receiving side avoids soft shots because it its unsportmanlike. And think of the time NBC wasted on this silly game when it was ignoring all the rest of the Olyhmpic sports. LM
Winning is too easy? Brazil would be surprised to hear that. From what I’ve seen exactly 50% of beach volleyball teams lose, a figure identical to that of soccer, water polo and basketball.
I’d knew nothing of beach volleyball until this week, and have really enjoyed it. Lots of court and only two people is part of the fun.
Personally, I object to beach volleyball being organized enough to be an Olympic sport. If ever there were a sport meant for casual pick-up games involving ready access to beer, it’s beach volleyball. The spirit of the game died the moment someone wrote down the rules.
(Of course, take that with a few 🙂 🙂 🙂 …)
So far my favorite Olympic moment is the Danish men’s 49er team winning gold in a borrowed Croatian boat. That race was all kinds of awesome.