Tunisia makes its Olympic Games debut against Beijing gold medalist

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 6, 2016 – Tunisia makes its Olympic Games debut against 2008 gold medallist, Phil Dalhausser and his reunited partner, Nick Lucena in a pool C match on day two.  Dalhausser and Lucena reunited after a 10-year span of playing with other partners to qualify for Rio as the #3 seed.

Head to Head

The two teams have never played on the FIVB World Tour.

Historically the #3 has won all four previous meetings against the #22 seed in the Olympic Games, all by straight sets.  The closest match was in London (2012) where Germany’s eventual gold medal winners, Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann defeated Russia’s Serguey Prokopyev/Konstantin Semenov, 21-19, 21-17 in 43 minutes.

Phil Dalhausser/Nick Lucena, United States, Seed #3, Pool C, Qualified 3rd with 6,280 Points in the 2015-16 Olympic qualification period

• Phil: January 26, 1980 (36y6m11d), 205 cm (6’9″), 90 kg (200 lbs.), Hometown Baden, Switzerland, 98th FIVB World Tour event (ranks 80th), 34 gold medals (ranks 3rd), $1,117,900 career winnings (ranks 3rd)

• Nick: September 22, 1979 (36y10m15d), 185 cm (6’1″), 80 kg (178 lbs.), Hometown Davie, 87th FIVB World Tour event, five gold medals, $472,000 career winnings (ranks 37th)

• Phil and Nick first played together in 2005 and reunited in 2015 for a run at the Olympics. They are playing in their 18th FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournament together, five gold medals, $333,500 career winnings (ranks 53rd).

• Phil has played in 64 FIVB World Tour final fours with 34 gold, 14 silver, 12 bronze medals and four 4th place finishes.

• Nick has played in 21 FIVB World Tour final fours with five gold, nine silver, four bronze medals and three 4th place finishes.

• Phil and Nick have played in 11 Final Fours in 2015-2016 (Silver Long Beach Grand Slam 2015, Silver Sochi Open 2015, Gold Xiamen Open 2015, Silver World Tour Finals 2015, Gold Puerto Vallarta Open 2015-16, Silver Doha Open 2015-16, Gold Maceió Open 2016, Gold Fuzhou Open 2016, Bronze Cincinnati Open 2016, Gold Hamburg Major 2016, Silver …

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