Walsh and May-Treanor defend women’s Olympic beach volleyball gold medal to deny China
The women’s defending champions from the Athens Olympics, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have become the first beach pairing to win two Olympic beach volleyball gold medals.
In today’s final played in heavy rain at the Chaoyang Park beach volleyball stadium the USA team were too good for the no. 1 seeded Chinese team of Tian Jia and Wang Jie. The final score was 21-18, 21-18.
Both sets were tight affairs however the USA pairing played the big points better to pull off the win. The first set was pretty much point for point and had reached 17-17. It was here that May-Treanor and Walsh won three straight points to make it 20-17. The Chinese pulled one back however that was the best they could do.
In the second set the US pairing took the early lead going out to 3-0. The margin was much the same as the score went to 6-3. The US team got their lead through good defence.
China now mounted a comeback thanks to some good serving and a good block or dig. Consecutive aces by Tian saw them take the lead at 9-8. Both teams then swapped the lead several times before the US got a slight advantage to lead 18-16.
Two errors from the US including a missed serve saw the scores back level at 18-18. Here was a crucial time. Could the Chinese push ahead to level the match at a set a piece or would the US grab the gold?
The 18-18 point had a huge rally where the Chinese were on top. After getting a good pickup Tian decided to bump the ball over deep to try for the win. May-Treanor was too good for this and got the dig and then put away the winner. After that play the US took the next three points and a Kerri Walsh spike saw them take the gold.
The difference between gold and silver to me was the better positional play of May-Treanor. She picked up some good digs playing in the shadow of the Walsh block. The digs were converted into vital points. The Chinese also could have picked up a few more points if the overhead skills of Wang were improved. Several times as she backed of the net she had the chance to play at the ball however the ball normally would fly off her hands and out of court.
Overall the Chinese can feel happy to see their players claim silver and bronze in a sport that has only recently seen them rise towards the top. Obviously for the US it was another great result in a sport that has its origins on the sands of southern California.
The gold medal in women’s beach volleyball has now been won by Brazil in 1996, Australia in 2000 and the USA in 2004 and 2008. Will 2012 be the turn of China or will another country emerge?
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