German gals gain glory, Copacabana gold!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 18, 2016 – It’s the morning after and the followers of Beach Volleyball around the world are still in “awe” of the performance by Laura Ludwig and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany in dominating the top two-seeded women’s pairs in the Rio 2016 Olympic competition to spoil what was to be a Brazilian beach party on the sands of Copacabana early Thursday morning.

With a pair of back-to-back 2-0 wins over Brazilian medal favorites top-seeded Talita Antunes/Larissa Franca (21-18, 21-12, 36 minutes) and second-seeded Agatha Bednarczuk/Barbara Seixas (21-18, 21-14, 43) , the fourth-seeded Ludwig and Walkenhorst become the first European women’s team to not only win an Olympic Beach Volleyball medal, but to also top a “Summer” Games podium.

With threatening weather surrounding the 12,000-seat “Coliseu on Copacabana” where play can be impacted by windy conditions, the first set in the gold medal contest was close with 10 ties and five lead changes before Ludwig and Walkenhorst broke from a 13-13 tie to take a 17-13 lead.  From that point on, the Germans were in control as the wind picked up during the “midnight madness” match.

“We said, ‘We’ll take the storm and make our own storm,'” said Ludwig after the match as the 30-year old was playing in her third Olympics after competing with Sara Goller Niedrig where the pair placed ninth in the Beijing 2008 and fifth in the London 2012 Summer Games.  And as the 25-year old Walkenhorst added, “the more pressure we had, the better we played.”

“Storm” indeed was created by the Germans in the competition as Ludwig and Walkenhorst finished the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with a 7-0 record as the pair dropped only one of 15 sets in the competition to Laura Giombini and Marta Menegatti of Italy (2-1, 21-18, 18-21, 15-9, 51 minutes) in a “meaningless” Pool D match.  In their other six Rio matches, the Germans average set win was 21-13 with each contest lasting an average of 34 minutes.

Two-time European champions together, Ludwig and Walkenhorst started Rio Olympic group play with back-to-back wins over teams from Egypt and Canada.  The Germans were challenged briefly in their opening elimination bracket match by Isabelle Forrer and Anouk Verge-Depre before winning 2-0 (21-19, 21-10) in 34 minutes.

Stats-wise, the Germans’ quick disposal of their opponent lessen their numbers as Ludwig and Walkenhorst finished second in service winners (25), third …

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