Walsh and May-Treanor retain third Olympic gold medal – Volleyball News
Nothing less was expected from top American beach volleyball duo of Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor, which entered the final showdown of the Women’s Olympic Beach Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday, August 8.
Walsh and May-Treanor performed up to the mark and retained third consecutive gold medal after defeating compatriots April Ross and Jennifer Kessy. They posted 2-0 (21-16, 21-16) victory over Ross/Kessy and successfully defended the Olympic title. The thrilling
action of beach volleyball took place at the Horse Guards Parade in London, while huge number of local and international fans attended the match. Walsh/ May-Treanor took only 36 minutes to edge out the fellow US team in the influential gold medal match.
The 2009 FIVB world champions Kessy and Ross could not climb up the top slot, but expressed delight on winning the silver-ware.
The first whistle of the referee started things in the match and Kessy/Ross delivered the first serve. They made their mark by scoring the first point of the match and showed determination to give out a good performance. Meanwhile, Walsh/May-Treanor closely
observed the opponents and grasped their game plan. They counter-attacked and the exchange of long rallies started out. Both teams displayed good action on the net and created a lot of fun for the audience. Gradually, Walsh/May-Treanor gained better status
and pushed the rivals behind. Kessy/Ross tried to resist, but failed to save the set points. First set concluded and Walsh/May-Treanor went on front, 1-0.
The second set also had a sort of symmetry with the previous set. Ross broke the ice and added the first point. Once again Walsh/May-Treanor came from behind and cruised past to victory after claiming the match points. Both sets of the Olympic gold medal
match ended with identical score of 21-16.
Speaking of their great achievement, May-Treanor said: “I wanted to do this for her and to finish with a win for both of us. We set our expectations really high as a team, as people and as players. We set the bar really high and extended ourselves over it.”
On the other hand, Ross also shared her thoughts in the following manner: “We are really proud of what we did here. It has been a tough battle and we nearly lost to Spain and the Czech Republic and nearly lost to Brazil last night. We are really proud of
how we fought tonight, but they didn’t let us in. We like to be underdogs and come back and they didn’t let us back in tonight.”
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