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2020 Summer Olympic Games
23 July – 8 August 2021
Tokyo, Japan
Beach Volleyball at the Olympic Games will enter a new era at Tokyo 2020, which will see the first tournament not to feature Kerri Walsh-Jennings, an icon of the sport, since Atlanta 1996.
This edition’s Beach Volleyball tournament will open on Saturday 24 July and run until Friday 6 August (when the Women’s Bronze and Gold Medal matches are held) and Saturday 7 August (the date for the Men’s Bronze and Gold Medal matches).
Walsh-Jennings, who won three Golds and one Bronze in her storied Olympic career, and her partner Brooke Sweat were beaten in the United States qualification tournament by the team of Sarah Sponcil and Kelly Claes.
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“This is the first Olympics she [Walsh-Jennings] hasn’t been to in the 21st Century, which is just crazy to think about,” said Sponcil. “She’s such an amazing player, an icon for the sport. To be able to knock her out – it’s not just a random opponent. I’m honoured to have eliminated her. She’s going to go down as one of the best in history.”
Claes, 25, and Sponcil, 24, are the youngest U.S. Beach Volleyball team ever to qualify for the Olympics and the first NCAA beach volleyball products to reach the Summer Games, reflecting a younger generation of stars coming through in the sport.
However, the older stars are not giving up their shot at Olympic glory just yet, with the U.S. men’s teams featuring 45-year-old Jake Gibb, the oldest Volleyball player in Olympic history and Beijing gold medalist Phil Dalhausser, 41.
Six Men’s teams from Rio de Janeiro 2016 are still going strong, including Silver winners Daniele Lupo and Paolo Nicolai of Italy, and Bronze winners Alexander Brouwer and Robert Meeuwsen of the Netherlands.
Germany’s Laura Ludwig, who paired with Kira Walkenhorst to win Gold in Brazil, is paired with Margareta Kozuch this year, while Silver medalist Ágatha Bednarczuk is now with Duda Santos Lisboa. Reigning Men’s champions Bruno Oscar Schmidt and Alison Cerutti of Brazil are both back... but with new partners: Evandro Oliveira for Schmidt and Álvaro Filho for Cerutti.
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