Living with the Gold Target: How Latvia’s Queens found peace at the summit

There is a distinct kind of gravity that follows a World Champion onto the sand. It’s the invisible weight of a gold target pinned squarely to your back. When you are Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova, you don’t just enter a tournament like the Beach Volley Nations Cup; you redefine it. Every opponent they face isn’t just playing a match - they are playing the match of their year, swinging with the absolute freedom of having absolutely nothing to lose.

"Especially after winning the World Championships, we realised that every team is even more dangerous," Tina admits, reflecting on the price of reaching the absolute summit. "They go at their 100%."

The Evolution of the Empire

For the Latvian pioneers, coming to the 2026 CEV Beach Volley Nations Cup Final in Budapest feels like a profound full circle. Years ago, they were the wide-eyed youngsters navigating the intense waters of international competition. Today, they enter the competitions as the undisputed standard-bearers, anchoring the Latvian national campaign not just as elite competitors, but as mentors.

"It does feel so satisfying to come back to the Nations Cup now, after starting so young and going through so many things in our careers," Tina says. "Being in the Nations Cup in the beginning as the younger ones in the team, now being the older and more experienced ones... it feels like a full circle."

But greatness in a team tournament like the Nations Cup isn't a solo act. Anastasija is quick to point out that leadership means carrying the whole squad forward. "It also depends on how the other team behaves, how they are playing. Of course, we know that if we keep our level, we can beat any team here, but we are a bigger team here. It’s not only two players and one coach. We have two more players. We are happy to compete."

To bridge that gap and lead the next generation, Tina believes the most powerful tool isn't a fiery speech - it's consistency and empathy. "Showing by example is the biggest priority to set the standard that we expect from our team," she explains. "First of all, by yourself - show up, every single day, 100% ready and focused. But it's also just to speak with the other athletes, or younger girls about life, to make an emotional, human connection. When people are around every single day, that’s what creates good teams."

Turning pressure into gratitude

How do you survive a lifetime under the microscope without cracking? For Graudina and Samoilova, the secret was time. They didn't become superstars overnight; they grew into their armor.

"We have grown into that level, step by step," Tina says. "It is not that one morning we wake up and suddenly we are playing at a high level. These were very small steps that we have taken over so many years, so we had the time to adjust to the pressure."

Behind that bulletproof on-court mindset lies a fierce commitment to keeping their humanity intact. In a sport that demands constant sacrifice, Anastasija emphasises that knowing when to step away from the sand is just as vital as grinding on it.

"I think that it is very important to take rest, breaks," Anastasija says, noting how vital it was to completely step away from the sport for a couple of months after the Paris Olympics. "Even when we are in the season... the coach gives us a week where we don’t play, and that way we can just rest and focus on something else, not only on the ball. It is a balance between hard work and resting, and finding something else in your life."

"Remembering that we are all human beings," Anastasija adds softly. "

The moving engine

When you have already won the sport's biggest prizes, the hardest question to answer is often: What's next? Once you’ve stood on top of the world, finding the motivation to wake up for another grueling practice session requires looking inward.

For Anastasija, the answer came when she looked past the trophies and realised the fire hadn't dimmed. "On one hand, if you see your results, you are like: 'Okay, we won the World Championships, why should we continue?' But on the other hand, we realised we have so much love for our sport that we just get enjoyment every day that we come to practice. Even if it is a hard day, still, at the end of the day, we find something to be happy about."

"We love winning, we love going to the competitions, seeing our friends and fans from across the world, and representing our country," she continues.

It’s an old truth, but as they march through Budapest with the weight of a nation and the target of the world on their shoulders, it remains their ultimate weapon.

"The love for the sport is the moving engine," Anastasija says.

Tina smiles. "So cliché, but so true."