Year in Review: Europeans take a full set of Tokyo medals in beach volleyball
Editorial
The Tokyo Games saw yet another demonstration of strength from European beach volleyball as for the third-straight Olympic edition a team from the continent stood at the top of the podium during the awarding ceremony.
Perhaps even more important than the fact that for the second-straight time Europeans collected half of the six sets of medals in play, were Norway’s and Russia’s first Olympic medals in the sport and the unprecedented appearance of a Swiss female team at the podium.
Europe entered the Olympic men’s tournament with high hopes of returning to the top of the podium for the first time since Germans Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann won gold in London 2021. Most of it was due to the solid campaigns starred by Norwegians Anders Mol and Christian Sørum and Russians Oleg Stoyanovskiy and Viacheslav Krasilnikov in the years leading to the Games.
The teams didn’t disappoint and played in the first-ever all-European beach volleyball gold medal match in the Olympics. Aged 24 and 25 at the time, Mol and Sørum defeated the world champions to become the youngest Olympic champions in the history of the sport.
Christian Sørum“It’s been our dream for so long. Three years ago I took a screenshot of the Olympic gold medal from Rio and I put it on my phone and I’ve watched that medal every day since. To stand here with a gold medal, together with Anders and the rest of our team, is amazing. And also to be on the podium with Russia and Qatar is also huge for us, because we are good friends and we all work hard and push each other and where we are today is also because of each other.”
Norwegian Beach Volleyball Player
It was also a historic moment for Russian beach volleyball, which has established itself as one of the strongest in the world during the last decade but was yet to win an Olympic medal. Krasilnikov came agonizingly close in Rio 2016 with Konstantin Semenov, but the two finished fourth.
Viacheslav Krasilnikov“For me personally, I go back to 2008, when I was at home, not in a very good condition, watching the Olympics. I realized that that was my dream, to be at the Olympic Games and conquer a medal. I worked very hard and I went to Rio already with the mindset to win a medal. I finished fourth, deservedly. Now, I have Oleg Stoyanovskiy as a teammate and our goal was to get a medal here, in Tokyo. Along the way, we became world champions, which was a great feeling. Now our dream came true.”
Russian Beach Volleyball Player
We were just one win away from watching the first Olympic podium formed by teams from a same continent as Latvians Edgars Tocs and Martins Plavins took down a pair of favorite teams from Brazil to make it to the semifinals, but they eventually fell to Qataris Cherif Younousse and Ahmed Tijan in the bronze medal match.
On the women’s side, Europe also showed signs of progress by, for the first time in history, advancing two teams to the Olympic semifinals in Switzerland’s Anouk Vergé-Dépré/Joana Heidrich and Latvia’s Tina Graudina/Anastasija Kravcenoka.
The duos ended up losing to eventual gold and silver medal winners, USA’s April Ross/Alix Klineman and Australia’s Taliqua Clancy/Mariafe Artacho, but met in the bronze medal match, with the Swiss prevailing to become the first women from their country to step on the podium at the Olympics and just the second European duo to do so.
Anouk Vergé-Dépré“There is very strong competition in Europe. It is the continent with the most density of high-level teams, which makes it interesting to play there. It’s a huge honor to represent Switzerland and it’s a dream come true that we won this Olympic medal. What we experienced as a team here is one of those stories you can’t experience in other environments. There was so much going on and I think overcoming this as a team will stay in our hearts.”
Swiss Beach Volleyball Player
With Tokyo’s results accounted, Europe has now seven medals (two gold, two silver, three bronze) among the men and two (one gold, one bronze) among the women. These medals were won by teams from seven different countries, easily the most among all continents.